Astronomers Detected 591 High-Velocity Stars

Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – A total of 591 high-velocity stars have been detected by a research team, led by astronomers from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC).

591 high-velocity stars’ positions and orbits. Credit: KONG Xiao of NAOC

After the first high-velocity star was discovered in 2005, over 550 ones have been discovered with multiple telescopes in 15 years.

“The 591 high-velocity stars discovered this time doubled the total number previously discovered, bringing the current total number exceeding 1,000,” said Dr. Li Yinbi, lead author of the study.

High-velocity stars are kind of fast-moving stars, and they can even escape from the Galaxy.

“Though rare in the Milky Way, high-velocity stars, with unique kinematics, can provide deep insight into a wide range of Galactic science, from the central supermassive black hole to distant Galactic halo,” said Prof. LU Youjun from NAOC, a co-author of this paper.

“The two massive databases provide us unprecedented opportunity to find more high-velocity stars, and we did it,” said Prof. Luo Ali from NAOC, a co-author of this research.

From the kinematics and chemistries, the research team found that the 591 high-velocity stars were inner halo stars.

“Their low metallicities indicate that the bulk of the stellar halo formed as a consequence of the accretion and tidal disruption of dwarf galaxies,” said Prof. Zhao Gang from NAOC, a co-author of the study.

The discovery of these high-velocity stars tells us that the combination of multiple large surveys in the future will help us to discover more high-velocity stars and other rare stars, which will be used to study the unsolved mystery about our Galaxy.

The researchers used data from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and Gaia, and 43 of them can even escape from the Galaxy.

Paper – Paper

Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff