NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)
A “skinny” star that was discovered by astronomers. It will be twice the speed that our solar system travels through the Milky Way.
Astronomers may have discovered a Star “Magricela” crossing the center of our galaxy with a trailer planet. If confirmed, the pair establishes a New record for the exoplanetary system that moves fasteralmost twice the speed our solar system travels through the Milky Way.
It is thought that the planetary system moves at least 540 kilometers per second.
“We think this is a call Super-Neptune World that orbits a low mass star at a distance that would be between the orbits of Venus and Earth if they were in our Solar System, ”Sean Terry, a postdoctoral researcher at Maryland University, College Park, and at the space flight center NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, in the same US state. Once the star is so small, it is right beyond the habitable zone. “If so, it will be the first planet ever found to orbit a hyperveloz star ”.
The scientific that describes the results, led by Terry, was published in The Astronomical Journal magazine on February 10.
A moving star
The pair of objects was first detected for the first time in 2011, thanks to a Fortuito alignment. A team of scientists began to comb with MOA (Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics) – a collaborative project centered on the study of microlents conducted by the University of Canterbury Mounting Observatory in New Zealand – in search of light signs that were nominated The presence of exoplanets, or planets beyond our solar system.
The effect of microlente It occurs because the presence of mass deforms the tissue of the spacetime. Whenever an intervening object seems to approach a background star, the light of this star bends as it travels through the deformed space-time around the nearest object. If the alignment is especially close, the deformation around the object can act as a natural lens, expanding the light of the background star.
In this case, the signs of microlent revealed a pair of celestial bodies. Scientists have determined their relative masses (one is about 2300 times more massive than the other), but their exact masses depend on the distance from the earth. It is more or less how the expansion changes if we hold a magnifying glass on a page and move up and down.
“Determining the mass ratio is easy,” said David Bennett, a senior researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park and Goddard, co -author of the new scientific article and leader of the 2011 original study.It is much harder to calculate your real masses“.
The team that discovered in 2011 suspected that the objects under the effect of microlent were either a star with about 20% of our sun’s dough and a planet about 29 times more massive than Earthor a closer “fugitive” planet, about four times the mass of Jupiter and a smaller moon than the earth.
To find out the most likely explanation, astronomers analyzed the data of the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, and ESA’s Gaia satellite. If the pair were a wandering planet and moon, they would be effectively invisible – dark objects lost in the dark void of space. But scientists might be able to identify the star if the alternative explanation was correct (although the planet in orbit was too tight for observation).
They found a strong suspect located about 24,000 light years away, which puts him in the Galactic Milk Way-the central nucleus where the stars are most densely grouped. Comparing the star’s location in 2011 and 2021, the team calculated their high speed.
But this is just your 2D movement; If you are also moving toward us or away from us, you must be moving even faster. Its actual speed may even be high enough to exceed the Milky Way exhaust speed, which is about 600 kilometers per second. If so, the planetary system is intended for cross the intergalactic space in many millions of years.
“To be sure that the newly identified star is part of the system that caused the 2011 signal, we would like to Look again in a year And see if the right distance moves and in the right direction to confirm that it came from the point where we detected the sign, ”said Bennett.
“If high resolution observations show that the star remains in the same position, then we can say for sure that it is not part of the system that caused the sign,” said Aparna Bhattacharya, a researcher at Maryland University, College Park and Goddard,, co -author of the new scientific article. “This would mean that the planet model and exiles ‘fugitives’ is more favored.”
The future Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will help us find out how common planets are around such fast stars and can provide clues about how these systems are accelerated. The mission will perform a study of the galactic bulge, combining a broad view of space with a very clear resolution.
“In this case, we used Moa due to its wide field of view and then followed with Keck and Gaia for its highest resolution, but thanks to the powerful view of Roman and the planned research strategy, we will not need to resort to telescopes Additional, ”said Terry. “Roman will be able to do everything.”
