Stars might form in galaxies but not all of them stay on there . We know of about two XII that have been able so far to escape the grip of the Milky Way . They are recognize as hypervelocity stars , and now astronomers have observed the most unusual yet .
A team of astronomer from the Friedrich - Alexander University in Germany have notice the first hypervelocity binary star . The organization , address PB3877 ( or J1211 ) , has a spicy compact star and a cool familiar . They are both trip with a velocity of 571 kilometers ( 354 mile ) per second , and they are situate 18,000 light - years from Earth .
PB3877 had already been reported as a hypervelocity headliner , but rich observations performed with the Keck scope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii present that it was not alone on its high - speed trip .
“ When we front at the newfangled data , much to our surprise , we found weak absorption lines that could not number from the red-hot star , ” Thomas Kupfer , Colorado - author of the paper , allege in astatement .
“ The cool companion , just like the spicy primary quill , exhibit a high radiate velocity . Hence , the two stars form a binary system , which is the first hypervelocity wide binary candidate . ”
The binary nature of the system is very important . Hypervelocity maven are believed to have take in their velocity either thanks to a bang from a powerful supernova or by a closemouthed encounter with a supermassive black hollow . These explanation ca n’t be applied to this hypervelocity binary , as such a strong gravitational interaction would separate the stars .
“ PB3877 may be an intruder from another galaxy , ” leave author Péter Németh propose in the paper published in theAstrophysical Journal Letters .
“ In that eccentric , its prolonged gradual acceleration would not harm its integrity . The outskirts of our wandflower hold various stellar streams that are believe to be the remnants of nanus galaxies that were displume to shred by the strong tidal force of the Milky Way . ”
The discovery of this organization also has theoretic consequences . The past and the time to come of this system depends on the amount of dark matter present in the Milky Way , so by obtaining the exact orbital property of PB3877 astronomers could test different blue matter exemplar .
