Astronomers from the European Space Agency (ESA) have discovered a star with record speed, 20 times the speed of Earth.
The star above is a red dwarf. It orbits the MAXI J1659-152 cosmic black hole (which has a mass 3 times that of our sun). This star is only one-fifth the mass of the sun and is located 1 million kilometers from the black hole.
According to ESA, because the star is lighter than the black hole and has a large orbit, it travels at speeds of up to 2 million km / h. This is the speed record for a star in the universe known to ever. At this speed, it only takes 2.4 hours to complete one revolution of its orbit.
The previous record was held by a star named Swift J1753.5-0127 with a time of 3.2 hours. Meanwhile, the black hole is moving at “just” 150,000 km / h.
“This star is moving at breakneck speed. It is 20 times faster than the speed of the Earth around the Sun, ”said Erik Kuulkers, astronomer at ESA.
We know that these two objects are located above the surface of our spiral galaxy. “With such a position, this star could be ejected from the galaxy when black hole activity explodes,” Kuulkers said.
This star is known to have been discovered since September 25, 2010, but it is only recently that scientists have properly calculated its horror using X-ray spectroscopy.
