Rare hypervelocity star may be able to escape the Milky Way

An object spotted by citizen scientists was found to be moving so fast through the Milky Way that it could escape the galaxy’s gravity and reach intergalactic space. The object, believed to be a faint red star, was observed zooming along at a speed of about 1.3 million miles per hour. If confirmed, it would be the first known ‘hypervelocity’ very low-mass star. The discovery was made by volunteers participating in a project that aims to uncover undiscovered objects or a hypothetical world beyond Neptune. The star’s high speed makes it particularly exciting to astronomers.