Hypervelocity Stars
If you've ever gazed at the night sky, you've probably wished upon a shooting star (which are really meteors).
But shooting stars do exist, and they're as rare as one in 100 million.
In 2005, astronomers discovered the
first "hypervelocity" star careening out of a galaxy at nearly 530 miles
per second (10 times faster than ordinary star movement).
We have ideas about what flings these
rare stars into deep space, but aren't certain; anything from
off-kilter supernova explosions to supermassive black holes might be
responsible.
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