{"id":849293,"date":"2025-05-18T19:12:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T00:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/18\/planet-discovered-orbiting-a-star-speeding-out-of-the-galaxy-at-1-2-million-mph\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T19:12:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T00:12:25","slug":"planet-discovered-orbiting-a-star-speeding-out-of-the-galaxy-at-1-2-million-mph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/18\/planet-discovered-orbiting-a-star-speeding-out-of-the-galaxy-at-1-2-million-mph\/","title":{"rendered":"Planet Discovered Orbiting a Star Speeding Out of the Galaxy at 1.2 Million MPH"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Hyper<\/a>
A super-speed star with a massive planet in tow could soon break free from our galaxy. Scientists are shocked it didn\u2019t lose the planet along the way. Credit: SciTechDaily.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spotted thanks to a fleeting light distortion in 2011, a mysterious duo \u2014 a tiny star and its hefty companion \u2014 has turned out to be much faster and stranger than first imagined.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Astronomers have observed hypervelocity stars before, but NASA<\/div>\n

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is the United States government agency responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Established in 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Act, NASA has led the U.S. in space exploration efforts, including the Apollo moon-landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle program.<\/div>\n

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>NASA<\/span> scientists may have just identified a truly extraordinary system. They\u2019ve found what appears to be the first known case of a super-Neptune exoplanet<\/div>\n

An exoplanet (or extrasolar planet) is a planet that is located outside our Solar System, orbiting around a star other than the Sun. The first suspected scientific detection of an exoplanet occurred in 1988, with the first confirmation of detection coming in 1992.<\/div>\n

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>exoplanet<\/span> orbiting a hypervelocity star, a star hurtling through space at extraordinary speed.<\/p>\n

This remarkable find could reshape our understanding of how planets form and survive in extreme gravitational environments. The fact that a planet has remained gravitationally bound to such a fast-moving star challenges existing models of stellar and planetary evolution. However this system formed, it\u2019s astonishing that the planet has managed to stay in orbit through such a tumultuous journey.<\/p>\n

\"Super<\/a>
This artist\u2019s concept visualizes a super-Neptune world orbiting a low-mass star near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists recently discovered such a system that may break the current record for fastest exoplanet system, traveling at least 1.2 million miles per hour, or 540 kilometers per second. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Racing Through the Cosmos at Incredible Speeds<\/h4>\n

Hypervelocity stars are rare celestial objects that travel at incredible speeds, often hundreds of kilometers per second. These stars are usually ejected from their home galaxies by powerful gravitational interactions, such as close encounters with supermassive black holes or other massive stars. Some travel so fast that they can escape the gravitational pull of the Milky Way<\/div>\n

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System and is part of the Local Group of galaxies. It is a barred spiral galaxy that contains an estimated 100-400 billion stars and has a diameter between 150,000 and 200,000 light-years. The name "Milky Way" comes from the appearance of the galaxy from Earth as a faint band of light that stretches across the night sky, resembling spilled milk.<\/div>\n

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>Milky Way<\/span> entirely. Studying these runaway stars offers valuable insight into the structure and evolution of our Galaxy, the behavior of black holes, and even the distribution of dark matter throughout the cosmos.<\/p>\n

The details of this groundbreaking discovery were published in The Astronomical Journal<\/em>, led by astronomer Sean Terry of the University of Maryland. The research describes a low-mass star moving at approximately 540 kilometers per second (~1.2 million miles per hour), with a likely super-Neptune-sized planet in orbit. If placed in our own Solar System, this planet would lie somewhere between the orbits of Venus<\/div>\n

Venus, the second planet from the sun, is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the moon, it is the second-brightest natural object in the night sky. Its rotation (243 Earth days) takes longer than its orbit of the Sun (224.7 Earth days). It is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" because of their similar composition, size, mass, and proximity to the Sun. It has no natural satellites.<\/div>\n

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>Venus<\/span> and Earth. According to Terry, this is likely the first planet ever discovered orbiting a hypervelocity star\u2014a finding that pushes the boundaries of what scientists thought was possible in planetary dynamics.<\/p>\n

\"Stars<\/a>
This artist\u2019s concept visualizes stars near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Each has a colorful trail indicating its speed \u2013 the longer and redder the trail, the faster the star is moving. NASA scientists recently discovered a candidate for a particularly speedy star, visualized near the center of this image, with an orbiting planet. If confirmed, the pair sets a record for the fastest known exoplanet system. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tracing the Signal Back to 2011<\/h4>\n

Finding objects like this in space is tricky. This object was first seen in 2011 following analysis of data from the Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics survey that had been conducted by the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. The study had been on the lookout for evidence for exoplanets around distant stars.<\/p>\n

The presence of a mass between Earth and a distant object creates these microlensing events. As such, when a mass passes between us and a star, its presence can be revealed through analysis of its light curve. In the 2011 data, the signals revealed a pair of celestial bodies and allowed the researchers to calculate that one was about 2,300 times heavier than the other.<\/p>\n

The 2011 study suggested the star was about 20 percent as massive as the Sun and a planet 29 times heavier than Earth. Either that, or it was a nearer planet about four times the mass of Jupiter<\/div>\n

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and the fifth planet from the sun. It is a gas giant with a mass greater then all of the other planets combined. Its name comes from the Roman god Jupiter.<\/div>\n

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>Jupiter<\/span>, maybe even with a moon. To learn more about the object, the team searched through data from Keck Observatory<\/a> and the Gaia satellite<\/a>. They found the star was located about 24,000 light years away, so still within the Milky Way. By comparing the location of the star in 2011 and then ten years later in 2021, the team was able to calculate its speed.<\/p>\n

Chasing a Star Into Intergalactic Space<\/h4>\n

Having calculated the speed of the star to be around 540,000 kilometers per second, the team is keen to secure more observations in the years ahead. If it is around the 600,000 kilometers per second mark, then it\u2019s likely to escape the gravity of the Milky Way and enter intergalactic space millions of years in the future.<\/p>\n

Adapted from an article originally published on Universe Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Explore Further: NASA Spots a Star and Planet Racing at 1.2 Million MPH<\/a><\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cA Candidate High-velocity Exoplanet System in the Galactic Bulge\u201d by Sean K. Terry, Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, David P. Bennett, Aparna Bhattacharya, Jon Hulberg, Macy J. Huston, Naoki Koshimoto, Joshua W. Blackman, Ian A. Bond, Andrew A. Cole, Jessica R. Lu, Cl\u00e9ment Ranc, Natalia E. Rektsini and Aikaterini Vandorou, 10 February 2025, The Astronomical Journal<\/i>.
\nDOI: 10.3847\/1538-3881\/ad9b0f<\/a><\/p>\n

Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\t\t\t Mark Thompson, Universe Today
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A super-speed star with a massive planet in tow could soon break free from our galaxy. Scientists are shocked it didn\u2019t lose the planet along the way. Credit: SciTechDaily.com Spotted thanks to a fleeting light distortion in 2011, a mysterious duo \u2014 a tiny star and its hefty companion \u2014 has turned out to be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":849294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2352,22160],"tags":[9793,9792],"class_list":{"0":"post-849293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-discovered","8":"category-planet","9":"tag-discovered","10":"tag-planet"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}