RX J0822-4300
Encyclopedia
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| Distance
| 7.000 Ly
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| Galactic coordinates
| 260.3841 -03.4718
RX J0822-4300, often referred to as a "Cosmic Cannonball", is a radio-quiet neutron star
currently moving away from the center of the Puppis A
supernova remnant
at over 3 million miles per hour (5 400 000 km/h; 1500 km/s; ~0.5% the speed of light), making it one of the fastest moving stars ever found. Astronomers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
to observe the star over a period of five years to determine its speed. At this velocity the star will be ejected from the galaxy millions of years from now.
Although the cosmic cannonball is not the only "hypervelocity star" discovered, it is unique in the apparent origin of its speed. Others may have derived theirs from a gravitational slingshot around the Milky Way's suspected supermassive black hole
, Sagittarius A*. Current theories fail to explain how such speeds can be attained from a supernova explosion. It could be a possible quark star
.
| Distance
Cosmic distance ladder
The cosmic distance ladder is the succession of methods by which astronomers determine the distances to celestial objects. A real direct distance measurement of an astronomical object is possible only for those objects that are "close enough" to Earth...
| 7.000 Ly
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| Galactic coordinates
| 260.3841 -03.4718
RX J0822-4300, often referred to as a "Cosmic Cannonball", is a radio-quiet neutron star
Radio-quiet neutron star
A radio-quiet neutron star is a neutron star that does not seem to emit radio emissions like most other neutron stars.Most neutron stars are pulsars, and emit radio radiation....
currently moving away from the center of the Puppis A
Puppis A
Puppis A is a supernova remnant about 10 light-years in diameter. The supernova 'occurred' approximately 3700 years ago...
supernova remnant
Supernova remnant
A supernova remnant is the structure resulting from the explosion of a star in a supernova. The supernova remnant is bounded by an expanding shock wave, and consists of ejected material expanding from the explosion, and the interstellar material it sweeps up and shocks along the way.There are two...
at over 3 million miles per hour (5 400 000 km/h; 1500 km/s; ~0.5% the speed of light), making it one of the fastest moving stars ever found. Astronomers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
Chandra X-ray Observatory
The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a satellite launched on STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. It was named in honor of Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who is known for determining the maximum mass for white dwarfs. "Chandra" also means "moon" or "luminous" in Sanskrit.Chandra...
to observe the star over a period of five years to determine its speed. At this velocity the star will be ejected from the galaxy millions of years from now.
Although the cosmic cannonball is not the only "hypervelocity star" discovered, it is unique in the apparent origin of its speed. Others may have derived theirs from a gravitational slingshot around the Milky Way's suspected supermassive black hole
Supermassive black hole
A supermassive black hole is the largest type of black hole in a galaxy, in the order of hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses. Most, and possibly all galaxies, including the Milky Way, are believed to contain supermassive black holes at their centers.Supermassive black holes have...
, Sagittarius A*. Current theories fail to explain how such speeds can be attained from a supernova explosion. It could be a possible quark star
Quark star
A quark star or strange star is a hypothetical type of exotic star composed of quark matter, or strange matter. These are ultra-dense phases of degenerate matter theorized to form inside particularly massive neutron stars....
.