Mysterious object leaves Milky Way at 1 million miles per hour
On August 15, 2024, NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, led by citizen scientists, made an astonishing discovery: an object traveling at a dizzying 1 million miles per hour, fast enough to escape the gravity of the Milky Way. Known as CWISE J124909.08+362116.0, this hypervelocity object is the first of its kind to be identified with the mass of a small star. Its extraordinary speed and low mass make it a unique subject of study.
What is CWISE J1249?
CWISE J1249 has been detected using data from NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), which later became the NEOWISE mission. Citizen scientists Martin Kabatnik, Thomas P. Bickle, and Dan Caselden played a key role in spotting this fast-moving object in the WISE images. Later observations confirmed its fast motion and low mass, placing it somewhere between a brown dwarf and a low-mass star, based on hydrogen fusion activity in its core.
Why is it moving so fast?
The reasons behind CWISE J1249’s incredible speed are still being investigated. One hypothesis is that it originated from a binary star system where a supernova explosion of a white dwarf ejected it. Another possibility is that it was ejected from a globular cluster by a close encounter with a pair of black holes. This ejection would explain its high speed and low metal content, suggesting that it could have originated from an early generation of stars.
Joint effort
This discovery highlights the important role of citizen scientists in astronomical research. Kabatnik and his team, including Melina Thévenot and software engineer Frank Kiwy, played a crucial role in identifying and analyzing the object. The study, led by Adam Burgasser of UC San Diego, involves a collaborative effort by both professional and amateur astronomers. This finding demonstrates the power of collective scientific research and the potential of citizen science in unraveling cosmic mysteries.
The discovery of CWISE J1249 not only expands our knowledge of fast celestial objects, but also highlights the invaluable contributions of citizen scientists to space exploration and research.
