Saturday, May 3, 2014

‘Runaway’ Star Cluster Breaks Free from Distant Galaxy

‘Runaway’ Star Cluster Breaks Free from Distant Galaxy:

 This artist's illustration shows the hypervelocity star cluster HVGC-1 escaping from the supergiant elliptical galaxy M87. HVGC-1 is the first runaway star cluster discovered by astronomers. It is fated to drift through intergalactic space. David A. Aguilar (CfA)

This artist’s illustration shows the hypervelocity star cluster HVGC-1 escaping from the supergiant elliptical galaxy M87. HVGC-1 is the first runaway star cluster discovered by astronomers. It is fated to drift through intergalactic space.
Image Credit: David A. Aguilar (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
There are a few single stars we’ve discovered that break the stellar speed limit, and they are known as hypervelocity stars. But today astronomers multiplied the number of these ‘runaway’ stars by hundreds of thousands. The Virgo Cluster galaxy, M87, has ejected an entire star cluster, throwing it toward us at more than two million miles per hour.

“Astronomers have found runaway stars before, but this is the first time we’ve found a runaway star cluster,” said lead author Nelson Caldwell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in a press release.

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Read the rest of ‘Runaway’ Star Cluster Breaks Free from Distant Galaxy (407 words)



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