Astronomers have made a surprising discovery in the Milky Way. six new runaway stars, celestial bodies moving at extreme speeds in unusual directions. Two stars stand out among them. never-before-seen heliocentric radial velocities.
Star J1235 reaches an incredible speed of 1,694 kilometers per second, while star J0927 impresses with a speed of 2,285 kilometers per second. Moving at speeds exceeding that of the Milky Way, these hyper-fast stars are the result of spectacular supernovae that help us measure the Universe.
According to a team of scientists led by astrophysicist Kareem El-Badry of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, this discovery provides a new calculation of the rate at which these stars form. They found evidence that a large population of low-mass runaway stars has yet to be discovered.
These stars are due to a phenomenon called dynamically driven double degenerate supernovatwo white dwarfs orbiting each other. One of these stars “steals” material from its companion until it crosses a critical threshold, causing the white dwarf to explode and eject the companion star at extraordinary speed.
The research, detailed in a paper submitted to The Open Journal of Astrophysics and available on the arXiv prerelease server, used data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia observatory to identify runaway stars.
Although only a handful of these stars have been discovered in the Milky Way, The galaxy is estimated to have released more than 10 million of them into intergalactic space.. There are also likely to be many stars passing near the Solar System, including white dwarfs from other galaxies.
Despite the fascinating discoveries, there are still many uncertainties. Scientists admit that Understanding the formation and behavior of these runaway stars is limited by an observational bias. this supports the identification of the brightest stars.
Also, despite the advances made by the Gaia observatory, it is still difficult to trace the origin of these stars individually.
Source: Tec Mundo
I’m Blaine Morgan, an experienced journalist and writer with over 8 years of experience in the tech industry. My expertise lies in writing about technology news and trends, covering everything from cutting-edge gadgets to emerging software developments. I’ve written for several leading publications including Gadget Onus where I am an author.
