Astrophysicists have discovered one of the fastest stars in our galaxy.

According to astronomers, most stars are slow.rotates around galactic centers at a speed of no more than 100 kilometers per second. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Over the past few decades, scientists have discovered about 20 superfast stars in our galaxy. The last such discovery is the object PSR J0002 + 6216. Its speed is 1,130 kilometers per second or more than four million kilometers per hour. It is enough to get to the same Moon in 6 minutes. According to astronomers from the American National Radio Astronomy Observatory, who discovered it, while maintaining such dynamics, in the distant future, the object will escape from our galaxy.

This is currently one of the fasteststars found in our Milky Way. The results of observations of the object published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters. A brief press release about the discovery is on the website of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

PSR object J0002 + 6216 (J0002 for short)is a pulsar - one of the types of "dead" neutron stars left after a supernova explosion. It is located in the constellation Cassiopeia - about 6.5 thousand light years from Earth. Unlike most similar objects, it is not located inside the remains of a supernova or in a relatively clean area of ​​outer space, but not far from the cocoon of an exploding star.

Such an unusual feature of the "dead star"led a team of American astrophysicists under the leadership of Dale Freyle to study in detail both the pulsar itself and the cloud of hot gas CTB 1, located about 53 light-years away. The first data and images from the VLA radio telescope brought a lot of interesting and unexpected discoveries.

Scientists have found that PSR J0002 + 6216 moves withincredibly high speed - 1130 kilometers per second. According to this indicator, it is second only to the star US 708, which is also located in the Milky Way. Its speed is 1200 kilometers per second.

By the trajectory of its movement astrophysics alsoable to set the age of PSR J0002 + 6216. The pulsar appeared in the center of CTB 1 about ten thousand years ago, when its progenitor exhausted reserves of hydrogen and helium to maintain a thermonuclear reaction and a supernova exploded.

According to the team of American astrophysicists, this observation once again cast doubt on the assumption that only supermassive black holes can throw stars from galaxies.

As Dale notes, the pulsar initially movedSlower than the cocoon of gas that produced its supernova expanded, then the rate of expansion of gas and dust fairly quickly decreased due to interaction with the interstellar medium. According to astronomers, this happened about five thousand years ago, as the bright fiery “tail” left by the pulsar can tell, after its release from the supernova cocoon.

</ p>

What makes these stars becomecosmic outcasts? According to one of the assumptions, they are accelerated to such incredible speeds due to gravitational interaction with a supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy. According to another, earlier these stars could be in so-called close binary systems, in which both stars are very close to each other. When one of the stars goes over to the supernova, the second one can literally eject from the system.

Frayl and colleagues hope that further observation of PSR J0002 + 6216 will also help to establish the exact reason for the release of the pulsar from the Milky Way.

“We still have a lot of work to do.find out what is wrong with this pulsar. In addition, observing him will allow better understanding of the internal mechanisms of the emergence of supernovae and pulsars themselves, ”adds Freyle.

Subscribe to our Yandex. Dzen. There is published content that does not reach the site.