An object moving through space at close to 1 million miles per hour has been detected, moving so fast that it is leaving the Milky Way galaxy. Scientists are now trying to identify this mysterious object.
Currently located 400 light-years away, the object known as CWISE J1249 is unlikely to be a spacecraft due to its massive size. It is approximately 30,000 times the mass of Earth, making it about 8% of the mass of the Sun.
This unusual size places J1249 somewhere between a star and a planet, as described by Dr. Darren Baskill, a lecturer in astronomy at the University of Sussex. According to Dr. Baskill, stars moving at such high speeds are rare.
The object’s speed is so rapid that it could exit the Milky Way galaxy in just a few tens of millions of years, which is a short period considering stars’ long lifespans.
This massive object, flying at 0.001% of the speed of light, has the potential to escape the galaxy and venture into intergalactic space.
Discovered by citizen scientists contributing to NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, J1249’s speed is approximately 2.6 times faster than any space probe ever launched.
A new study, pending peer review, confirms these findings and further characterizes the object discovered through the initiative.
The object, with an unusual composition compared to stars and brown dwarfs, may be the first star of its kind in the galaxy, based on NASA’s observations.
Researchers believe the high-speed movement of the object may be linked to a supernova explosion in a binary star system or encounters with black holes in a star cluster.
Dr. Baskill suggests that gravitational slingshots could explain the extreme speed of J1249, potentially originating from the galaxy’s dense center and accelerated through gravitational interactions.
About our experts:
Dr. Darren Baskill is an Outreach Officer and Lecturer at the University of Sussex School of Physics and Astronomy, with a background in organizing astronomy-related events and competitions.
For more information, visit the University of Sussex website.
Source: www.sciencefocus.com
