Astronomers have discovered a substellar object that is about to leave the Milky Way galaxy.

A group of astronomy enthusiasts belonging to Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Project The follower a potmade an unprecedented discovery: an object called Quiz J1249which is moving at a speed of about 1.6 million kilometers per hour, a speed that will eventually enable it to escape the universe’s gravity. milky waylaunching into intergalactic space.

The discovery was published in Astrophysical Journal, Astrophysical Journal Letters Made using infrared images from the orbital mission. Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) NASA’s SkyScape, which scanned the sky between 2009 and 2011, and was later reactivated as Newways In 2013.

“It could be a low-mass star, or if it’s not constantly fusing hydrogen in its core, it would be considered a star.” dwarf brown”highlights a potAdditional observations, made using several ground-based telescopes, confirmed these features and its unusually high speed.

Martin Kabatnik, Thomas B. Bickel, and Dan CassildenAstronomers involved in the Backyard Worlds project were the first to spot the object on their screens. Kabatnik, one of the discoverers, told NASA: “When I first saw how fast it was moving, I was convinced it had already been reported.” “I can’t describe the level of emotion,” the expert added.

Scientists play a key role in astronomical studies and space missions. These volunteers dedicate their time to projects ranging from discovering exoplanets to creating color images from raw data captured by space probes. In this case, the citizen scientists were working on a NASA project that used images from the WISE mission, which mapped the sky in infrared light between 2009 and 2011 and was reactivated as NEOWISE in 2013 before its retirement. August 8, 2024Additional observations using ground-based telescopes allowed astronomers to Confirm and describe the object.

The discovery of this substellar object challenges traditional categories in astronomy because of its properties. Low block. Brown dwarfs are very common, too massive to be considered planets but not massive enough to support hydrogen fusion in their cores. However, none have ever been observed on a trajectory that would lead them to leave the galaxy.

he W.M. Keck Observatory in Maunakea, Hawaii It provided revealing data on the elemental composition of the discovery, indicating a slight presence of iron and other metals compared to other stars and brown dwarfs. This analysis suggests that this It could be an ancient object, You may belong to One of the first generations of stars in the galaxy.

One possible explanation for the high speed of detection is that it was originally part of a binary system that included a file white dwarfwhich exploded as a supernova. Another theory is that the object was ejected from a spherical mass After encountering a pair of black holes, scientists continue to investigate the elemental composition of the discovery to determine which of these hypotheses is more correct.

In 2013, the mission Newways NASA has reactivated The wise orbit To continue observing the sky. Since this relaunch, project participants have discovered more than 4,000 brown dwarfs. However, the new discovery is unique in its trajectory and speed.

The study led by Adam Burgassermember of Scientific equipment And a professor in University of California, San Diego, plus His team highlighted the importance of collaboration between amateur and professional astronomers. “The success of the citizen scientists who will participate in this discovery will inspire future scientific projects.”NASA team said.

NASA team confirmed: “The discovery of the object highlights the importance of infrared astronomy.”highlighting the importance of observations in such a spectrum for detecting objects that might otherwise go unnoticed.