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back to article Intergalactic speed demon stars bid Milky Way farewell

It takes a lot to kick a star out of a galaxy, but a group of Vanderbilt University astronomers say they’ve found a group of more than 675 stars that look like they’re headed for the exit door. The escape velocity of the Milky Way is a very, very big number: more than two million miles per hour (skipping the stuff on the right …

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  1. NukEvil
    Mushroom

    Mikly Way?

    Weird name for a galaxy...

    Nuclear explosion because...you know.

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    1. unitron
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Mikly Way?

      What's a Mikly Way?

      Oh, about as much as a Heming.

      I'll be toddling along now.

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  2. Long John Brass
    Alien

    Puppeteer homeworld perhaps

    Puppeteer are headed that way no?

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    1. Steve Brooks
      Reply Icon

      Re: Puppeteer homeworld perhaps

      Damn beat me, the moment I read this I thought, "Pierson's Puppeteers" making a run for it before the galaxy explodes. Of course there's also the possibility they are Pak Ringworlds using controlled sunflares to propel themselves away for the same reason, yes lots of possibilities that don't rely on bog standard orbital physics!

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    2. Smallbrainfield
      Reply Icon
      Alien

      Re: Puppeteer homeworld perhaps

      Ha ha, I thought this as well, though it sounds far too risky for the Puppeteers to use a supermassive black hole to achieve escape velocity. Unless of course they weren't inhabiting the system at the time. Though that would mean they had to have added the Fleet of Worlds at a later date...

      Didn't somebody work out if the Pak used controlled solar flares to move their sun, it would leave the Ringworld behind?

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Puppeteer homeworld perhaps

        As well as the Puppeteers, the article put me in mind of "Against A Dark Background."

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      2. SpeakerToAliens
        Reply Icon
        Flame

        Re: Puppeteer homeworld perhaps

        No the Ringworld wouldn't be left behind, provided the accelleration was very very low. It could be higher though, if they augmented it with the Attitude Jets and higher still if they added a few (lots!) more.

        <Flame image as the business end of an Attitude Jet>

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  3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

    Massive entropy increase

    It's galactic cooling.

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  4. xyz Silver badge

    I thought we were coming in from Sagitarius

    and were being gobbled by the Milky Way, so it's no surprise, others are going the other way. No biggee then.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I thought we were coming in from Sagitarius

      There goes the neighborhood...

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I thought we were coming in from Sagitarius

      Your extrasolar geography seems a bit confused. Sagittarius IS part of the Milky Way; in fact, it's the part nearest the center, where the supermassive black hole Sgr A* lives.

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  5. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Joke

    If you look carefully and from the right angle

    The stars spell

    So long, and thanks for all the fish

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    1. Chemist
      Reply Icon

      Re: If you look carefully and from the right angle

      Are you sure it's not : -

      "We apologise for the inconvenience !

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  6. TeeCee Gold badge
    Coat

    "....about ten million years."

    So, is there any remaining evidence from ten million years ago to answer the important question that remains?

    Whether or not the door hit their arses on the way out.

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    1. ian 22
      Reply Icon

      Re: "....about ten million years."

      So old this news?

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  7. annodomini2

    The next question...

    Are they actually from the Milky way itself or a merger?

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  8. yoinkster
    Thumb Up

    How big are these bad boys? Sun-sized? Supermegamassive? Pea-sized?

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    >"Their red colour isn’t, as you might guess, from their velocity"

    Only someone who thinks that two million miles per hour is a significant fraction of the speed of light could make that mistake.

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  10. mhenriday
    Pint

    Kudos to Richard

    for, unlike many of his pop-sci colleagues, resisting the temptation to refer to these stars as «rogue stars». Oscar Wilde would have been impressed !...

    Henri

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