Maverick star, one of the oldest in Milky Way, spotted moving at insane speed

Scientists have spotted an extremely rare type oftiny, ancient star which happens to be one of the oldest in the Milky Way galaxy. According to a report by ScienceAlert on Sunday (June 16), the star named CWISE J124909+362116.0exceeds the galactic escape velocity at around 600 kilometres per second. The hypervelocity star is moving at such a speed that soon it wouldbe thrown out into intergalactic space.

The star,which is anL subdwarf, was spotted by scientists as they were combingthrough telescope data for signs of the mysterious Planet Nine.

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CWISE J124909+362116.0(J1249+36 for short) is one ofjust a handful of hypervelocity stars identified in the Milky Way galaxy, the report said.

The discovery of the star was announcedat the 244th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

The explanations for the star's velocity

ScienceAlert reported on Sunday that there were many explanations forJ1249+36's velocity, and scientists explored three of those.

Scientists said that the first explanation for the star's velocity would be the expulsion from a binary system that includes a white dwarf star.Ultra-dense white dwarfs shine hotly with residual heat rather than fusion, and can be a bit unstable if they have a binary companion, they added.

The second possibility which scientists said was ofa many-body interaction that becomes unstable and meets one of the objects across the Milky Way.There are environments within the Milky Way that make these interactions more likely, namely globular clusters – dense globs that can contain millions of stars.

The third explanation that scientists gave is thatJ1249+36 is not from the Milky Way at all, but one of the many satellite dwarf galaxies orbiting it. A study conducted in 2017 that examined theprovenance of hypervelocity starsfound an extragalactic origin plausible.

Scientists pointed outthat it's feasible for J1249+36, too.

(With inputs from agencies)