A star system located about 24,000 light years away from Earth has been identified as potentially the fastest-moving exoplanet system in our galaxy. According to NASA, this system could be moving at least 1.2 million miles per hour, making it the fastest-ever discovered.
Researchers, led by Sean Terry with the University of Maryland and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, made the discovery using data collected in 2011 and 2021. They used microlensing to study the system, a phenomenon that causes space-time and light to curve around massive objects.
The team found evidence of two bodies orbiting each other – one likely a small star about 20% the size of our sun, and the other a planet about four times heavier than Jupiter with a small moon. The system is believed to be a super-Neptune world, orbiting a low-mass star at a distance between Venus and Earth.
While the exact speeds of individual bodies within the system cannot be confirmed, the team’s calculations suggest it could be traveling faster than 1.2 million miles per hour. The direction of travel remains uncertain, with the possibility that the system is moving closer to or further away from Earth.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/fast-moving-exoplanet-system-may-125104113.html