NASA Scientists Find Mysterious Space Objects At A Speed Of 1 Million Mil Per Hour

Illustration of CWISE J1249 near the exploding white dwarf (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, NASA-funded citizen science project, finds objects that move very fast in space. So fast, this object can escape gravity in the Milky Way galaxy.

This object was first discovered a few years ago by three community scientists at Backyard Worlds, namely Martin Kabatnik, Thomas P. Bickle, and Dan Caselden. The three of them saw faint objects moving quickly and were caught by the Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WISE) radar.

The object, named CWISE J124909.08+362116.0, was further observed by scientists. They used other ground-based telescopes until the object was characterized and its presence confirmed.

Observational results over several years show that CWISE J1249 shot out of the Milky Way galaxy at a speed of 1 million miles per hour. This astronomical object looks more prominent because of its very low mass making it difficult to classify.

"I can't describe the level of joy," said Kabatnik, Backyard Worlds scientist from Germany. "When I first saw how fast the object was moving, I'm sure the object would have been reported."

There is a possibility, CWISE J1249 is a small low-mass star. If scientists find hydrogen that is not stable in its core, it will be considered a brown dwarf, a sub-star with a mass among gas giant planets and stars.

There is no evidence to explain why this object can move so quickly. However, the three scientists have made a hypothesis that explains that CWISE J1249 was originally part of a binary system in white dwarfs.

This star exploded and became a supernova, but drew too much material from its partner. Another hypothesis explains that this object originated from a cluster of stars and accidentally met a pair of black holes so that it was thrown very far away.

These two hypotheses still need to be proven. To find out more about CWISE J1249, including the elements in it, scientists at Backyard Worlds will observe its objects further.