Mysterious extragalactic object moving at an astonishing 1 million miles per hour detected by NASA's volunteer researchers
A Brown Dwarf Mystery: CWISE J1249's High-Speed Exodus from the Milky Way
A low-mass object, CWISE J1249, is making waves in the astronomical community as it speeds out of the Milky Way at an astonishing speed of 1 million miles per hour. This intriguing discovery was made by a team of scientists, including Martin Kabatnik, Thomas P. Bickle, and Dan Caselden, while working on NASA's Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project.
The study, led by Adam Burgasser, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, was published at arxiv.org/abs/2407.08578. CWISE J1249, originally discovered using data from NASA's WISE telescope, later known as the NEOWISE mission, has since garnered significant attention due to its unique characteristics.
One of the most striking features of CWISE J1249 is its scarcity of iron and other metals, suggesting it is likely extremely old. This object is also the only brown dwarf discovered so far to be speeding out of the Milky Way.
The high-speed ejection of an object like CWISE J1249 from the Milky Way can generally be attributed to a few possible astrophysical scenarios. These include dynamical interactions in a binary or multiple star system, interaction with the galactic center’s supermassive black hole, three-body encounters in dense stellar clusters, ejection from a supernova event, and remnant of a dwarf galaxy or stellar stream disruption.
While the specific reasons for CWISE J1249’s ejection are still under investigation, recent research suggests that dynamical interactions possibly related to the galactic center or binary disruption scenarios could be the leading theories. For detailed and updated insights, reviewing the latest scientific publications on CWISE J1249 would be advisable.
Interestingly, two of the study's co-authors, Hunter Brooks and Austin Rothermich, began their astronomy careers as citizen scientists. Citizen scientists play a crucial role in various astronomical studies and space missions, including the discovery of exoplanets and the production of color images from space probe data. The citizen scientists were instrumental in the discovery of CWISE J1249, demonstrating the significant impact citizen science can have in the field of astronomy.
As scientists gather more data on CWISE J1249, they hope to discern which of the scenarios is most likely. The WISE mission, which retired on 8 August 2024, played a pivotal role in this discovery, and future missions and studies are expected to further unravel the mysteries of this intriguing brown dwarf.
- The study of CWISE J1249, a brown dwarf speeding out of the Milky Way, falls under the realm of astrophysics and space-and-astronomy.
- The team of scientists involved in the discovery of CWISE J1249 include experts in various fields, such as astronomy and technology, who used data from NASA's WISE telescope, also known as the NEOWISE mission, for their research.
- The high-speed ejection of CWISE J1249 from the Milky Way could be due to a few astrophysical scenarios, including interactions with a supermassive black hole, binary disruptions, or dense stellar clusters.
- The citizen science community has demonstrated its value in the field of astronomy, as evidenced by the fact that two co-authors of the CWISE J1249 study, Hunter Brooks and Austin Rothermich, started as citizen scientists and played a crucial role in the discovery.
- Advancements in technology have played a significant role in the field of astrophotography, allowing for the production of color images from space probe data and the discovery of exoplanets.
