Racing through our galaxy at incredible speed

A runaway star named J1249+36 is causing excitement as it zooms through space at incredible speeds, breaking free from our galaxy’s gravitational pull. Scientists are puzzled by what could have made this star move three times faster than the sun and 1,500 times faster than the speed of sound.

One theory suggests that J1249+36 was once part of a binary system with a white dwarf. When the white dwarf exploded, it released the star with a powerful kick. Another idea involves a close encounter with two black holes in a globular cluster, which ejected the star at high speed.

Researchers are now studying the star’s composition to understand its origins and whether it was affected by a white dwarf explosion. Interestingly, this fast star belongs to a class of ancient stars called subdwarfs and was discovered by volunteer scientists searching for evidence of the mysterious “Planet 9.” Even though hypervelocity stars like J1249+36 are relatively common in our galaxy, they continue to fascinate scientists.

Vocabulary List

1. Runaway star /?r?n??we? st??r/ (noun): A star moving rapidly through space, escaping the gravitational pull of its galaxy.
2. Gravitational pull /??ræv??te???n?l p?l/ (noun): The force that attracts objects towards the center of a massive body, like a star or planet.
3. Binary system /?ba?n?ri ?s?st?m/ (noun): A system of two stars orbiting around a common center of mass.
4. Globular cluster /??l?bj?l?r ?kl?st?r/ (noun): A spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core.
5. Subdwarfs /?s?bdw??rfs/ (noun): A class of faint stars with low metal content, older than the sun.