What NASA object is 1 million mph?

The Galactic Speedster: Unraveling the Mystery of CWISE J1249

One million miles per hour. That’s the breathtaking speed at which a peculiar celestial object, designated CWISE J1249, is tearing through space. Discovered by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and subsequently observed by the citizen science project Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, this low-mass entity presents a captivating enigma for astronomers. Its velocity, far exceeding typical stellar speeds within our galaxy, hints at a violent past and a potential future beyond the Milky Way’s grasp.

CWISE J1249 isn’t easily classified. It’s too small to be a star in the traditional sense, lacking the mass required to sustain hydrogen fusion in its core. This places it in the realm of “substellar objects,” a broad category encompassing brown dwarfs and even smaller, planet-like bodies. Brown dwarfs, sometimes referred to as “failed stars,” are heavier than giant planets but lighter than the smallest true stars, occupying a nebulous middle ground. They can generate some heat through deuterium fusion in their youth, but this process is short-lived. The precise nature of CWISE J1249 within this spectrum remains under investigation.

What truly sets this object apart is its remarkable velocity. Stars within the Milky Way typically orbit the galactic center at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour. CWISE J1249’s million-mile-per-hour sprint dramatically exceeds this norm, strongly suggesting it’s not gravitationally bound to our galaxy in the long term. The leading hypothesis for this extreme speed is a close encounter with a more massive object, perhaps a binary star system or even the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center. Such an encounter could have acted as a gravitational slingshot, flinging CWISE J1249 out of the galaxy like a cosmic pebble.

The study of CWISE J1249 offers a unique opportunity to glean insights into several astrophysical phenomena. Its trajectory and speed provide clues about the distribution of mass within the galaxy, particularly the unseen dark matter that makes up a significant portion of its mass. Furthermore, analyzing its composition could shed light on the environments where such low-mass objects form. Are they born in isolation, or do they originate within star-forming regions, only to be ejected later?

As astronomers continue to observe CWISE J1249 and other high-velocity objects, we can anticipate a deeper understanding of the dynamic processes shaping our galaxy and the diverse population of celestial bodies that inhabit the vastness of space. This galactic speedster, though small and faint, carries a weighty story, a testament to the powerful forces at play within the cosmos.