(ORDO NEWS) — The research team, led by astronomers from the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), has discovered 591 high-speed stars using data from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and the European Space Agency Gaia. According to the researchers, 43 of the discovered stars can leave our galaxy.
High-speed stars are stars with enormous spatial speed that can leave their galaxy at some point. Since the discovery of the first such star in 2005, scientists have discovered more than 550 such cosmic bodies. Thanks to the new discovery, their number has doubled at once.
“The 591 high-speed stars discovered this time has doubled the total number of these objects, bringing the total to more than 1,000 today,” – Li Yinbi, lead author of the study.
Although rare in the Milky Way, high-speed stars with unique kinematics can expand our knowledge of many galactic objects, from the central supermassive black hole to distant galactic halos, according to co-author of the study, NAOC Professor Lu Yujun.
Scientists have analyzed the chemical and kinematic properties of 591 high-speed stars and found that they represent the stars of the inner halo of our galaxy.
“Their low metallicity indicates that the bulk of the stellar halo was formed as a result of the merger and decay of dwarf galaxies,” concluded another NAOC researcher Zhao Gang.
LAMOST, the largest optical telescope in China, has the fastest data collection rate in the world and can observe about 4,000 celestial targets in a single exposure. He began regular research in 2012 and created the world’s largest spectra database.
Gaia is a space mission under the European Space Agency’s (ESA) science program, launched in 2013. It provided astrometric parameters for over 1.3 billion sources, the largest database of astrometric parameters.
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