![\"Scientists](\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2019\/09\/runaway-star-escaping-black-hole-300x158.jpg\")
<\/div>It Follows<\/h2>
Back in the 1980s, astronomers spotted a runaway star speeding across the night sky at upwards of 1.2 million miles per hour.<\/p>
Now, decades later, scientists say they’ve finally figured out which pocket of the galaxy the star once called home — and what it’s fleeing from: a giant black hole.<\/p>
Home is Nowhere<\/h2>
The star, dubbed PG1610+062, has probably spent all this time escaping from a black hole, Live Science <\/a><\/em>reports<\/a>. Or, more technically, it likely passed near a mid-mass black hole and got whipped off course by its gravitational pull, like a galactic slingshot.<\/p> There’s something slightly off about that explanation, though. Namely, a black hole with the mid-range mass needed to launch the star at this particular speed has never been observed within the Milky Way, according to a press release<\/a> about the research.<\/p> The scientists calculated<\/a> that the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy couldn’t be responsible for the star’s wild ride — the numbers simply don’t add up unless the black hole is considerably smaller<\/a>.<\/p> In other words, there may be undetected monstrous black holes lurking in the Milky Way.<\/p> “Now, PG1610+062 may provide evidence that [mid-mass black holes] could indeed exist in our galaxy,” Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg astronomer Andreas Irrgang said in the press release. “The race is on to actually find them.”<\/p> READ MORE:<\/strong> This Ridiculously Speedy Star Might Be Running Away from a Rare, Unproven Type of Black Hole<\/a> [Live Science<\/em>]<\/p> More on black holes: <\/strong>Spotted: A Black Hole That Shouldn’t Be Physically Possible<\/a><\/em><\/p> The post A Runaway Star Is Escaping a Black Hole at 1.2 Million MPH<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> Here is the original post: It Follows Back in the 1980s, astronomers spotted a runaway star speeding across the night sky at upwards of 1.2 million miles per hour. Continue reading Cosmic Horror<\/h2>
A Runaway Star Is Escaping a Black Hole at 1.2 Million MPH<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"