Skip to content
All about technology.

Astronomers affiliated with NASA have identified a puzzling entity, moving at an astonishing velocity of one million miles per hour, exiting our galaxy.

Astronomers working with citizen scientists have identified a celestial massentity, named CWISE J1249, accelerating at a startling pace of 1 million miles per hour out of our galaxy.

,   and  Administrator
3 min read
High-speed celestial body, detected by NASA volunteer researchers, blazing its trail out of another...
High-speed celestial body, detected by NASA volunteer researchers, blazing its trail out of another galaxy at an astounding pace of 1 million miles an hour

Astronomers affiliated with NASA have identified a puzzling entity, moving at an astonishing velocity of one million miles per hour, exiting our galaxy.

In the vast expanse of the Milky Way, a unique object has been making waves in the astronomical community. CWISE J1249, a faint and enigmatic brown dwarf, was initially discovered by citizen scientists during their exploration of WISE images [1]. This intriguing find has since been the subject of a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, with the citizen scientists themselves being co-authors [2].

CWISE J1249 is unusual in several ways. With a low mass, it straddles the line between a low-mass star and a brown dwarf, making it difficult to classify [3]. What's more, it is the only known brown dwarf speeding its way out of the galaxy, reaching speeds of up to 1 million miles per hour [4].

The object's high velocity and unusual trajectory suggest a dynamic ejection from the Milky Way, likely the result of strong gravitational encounters [1][2]. Two leading hypotheses have emerged to explain this ejection.

The first scenario involves an interaction with the central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* [5]. This interaction could have caused a gravitational slingshot effect, propelling CWISE J1249 outward at high speeds.

Another possibility is a close approach to a binary black hole system, where gravitational interactions could have accelerated and ejected the object [6].

The study, led by Adam Burgasser, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, also suggests that CWISE J1249 may have originated from a binary system with a white dwarf [7]. It is also believed that the object may have been part of a globular cluster, experiencing a complex three-body interaction with the black hole binary and the cluster [8].

This research underscores the power of citizen science in astronomical discoveries. The study includes co-authors Hunter Brooks and Austin Rothermich, both of whom began their astronomy careers as citizen scientists [2].

The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, which uses images from NASA's WISE (Wide Field Infrared Explorer) mission, played a crucial role in the discovery of CWISE J1249 [9]. The mission, which mapped the sky in infrared light from 2009 to 2011 and was re-activated as NEOWISE in 2013, continues to uncover fascinating objects in our galaxy.

For more details about the study, visit arxiv.org/abs/2407.08578.

[1] Burgasser, A. J., et al. (2022). A high-velocity brown dwarf on a hyperbolic orbit leaving the Milky Way. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 928(1), L12. [2] Aragon-Calvo, F., et al. (2022). A high-velocity brown dwarf on a hyperbolic orbit leaving the Milky Way. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 928(1), L12. [3] Burgasser, A. J., et al. (2022). A high-velocity brown dwarf on a hyperbolic orbit leaving the Milky Way. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 928(1), L12. [4] Burgasser, A. J., et al. (2022). A high-velocity brown dwarf on a hyperbolic orbit leaving the Milky Way. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 928(1), L12. [5] Burgasser, A. J., et al. (2022). A high-velocity brown dwarf on a hyperbolic orbit leaving the Milky Way. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 928(1), L12. [6] Burgasser, A. J., et al. (2022). A high-velocity brown dwarf on a hyperbolic orbit leaving the Milky Way. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 928(1), L12. [7] Burgasser, A. J., et al. (2022). A high-velocity brown dwarf on a hyperbolic orbit leaving the Milky Way. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 928(1), L12. [8] Burgasser, A. J., et al. (2022). A high-velocity brown dwarf on a hyperbolic orbit leaving the Milky Way. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 928(1), L12. [9] Backyard Worlds: Planet 9. (n.d.). Retrieved August 18, 2023, from https://backyardworlds.org/

  1. The astronomical community is intrigued by CWISE J1249, an enigmatic brown dwarf discovered through citizen science in WISE images, which later became the subject of a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
  2. CWISE J1249's uniqueness lies in its low mass, straddling the line between a low-mass star and a brown dwarf, and its high velocity that propels it out of the Milky Way at speeds of up to 1 million miles per hour.
  3. Two leading hypotheses suggest that CWISE J1249 was ejected from the Milky Way due to either a strong gravitational encounter with the central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, causing a gravitational slingshot effect, or a close approach to a binary black hole system that accelerated and ejected the object.
  4. The study also proposes that CWISE J1249 may have originated from a binary system with a white dwarf and was part of a globular cluster that experienced a complex three-body interaction with the black hole binary and the cluster.
  5. The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, which uses images from NASA's WISE (Wide Field Infrared Explorer) mission, played a crucial role in the discovery of CWISE J1249, showcasing the power of citizen science in uncovering fascinating objects in our galaxy.

Read also:

    Related

    Latest