back to article RED ALERT! High-speed alien fugitives are invading our Milky Way

Rare hypervelocity stars tearing through the Milky Way galaxy are runaway suns that have escaped neighbouring galaxies, according to research presented at this year’s National Astronomy Meeting in Hull, England. Hypervelocity stars are travelling between 300 and 700 kilometers (186 and 435 miles) per second faster than our …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Spacemen Biff

    Give way, to the left or to the right?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Spacemen Biff

      "Give way, to the left or to the right?"

      In orbit, turnwise gives way to widdershins, but both give way to the vessel which is highest relative to the ecliptic plane of the turtle. Everyone gives way to the sun and moon.

      1. Farnet

        Re: Spacemen Biff

        interesting sunwise and widdershins are all down to your viewing perspective, but if we has an opportunity you view the universe from the theoretical overhead vantage point would all the rotations (planets around a sol, galaxies around a black hole, and the universe in general), be evenly mixed or would there be a logical rotation (eg 70% sunwise, or clockwise)?

        just something i've never really thought about, and would assume there would some logic behind it all.

        1. stephanh

          Re: Spacemen Biff

          @ Farnet

          The question if the universe as a whole is rotating is actually a serious topic in cosmology. I recall it being discussed in "Gravitation" by Misner, Thorne & Wheeler. If it were the case, you would expect to see some deviation in the background radiation in the direction of the axis of rotation. No such deviation has been observed, but that just puts an upper bound on the rotation (i.e. the universe is not rotating very fast).

          Interestingly, in a rotating universe you could establish the axis of rotation, but the question of the center of rotation would by meaningless; every observer would appear to be at the center.

          1. Farnet

            Re: Spacemen Biff

            Wow thanks for that Stephan.

            Now I am really interested, I think I will be doing some research over the weekend

  2. mr. deadlift
    Joke

    A new standard in intergalactic warfare!

    When you get sick of lobbing rocks at your nemesis' homeworld, send a star! For complete obliteration.

    1. Rich 11

      Re: A new standard in intergalactic warfare!

      Which makes the black holes stealth bullets. Nice.

    2. Christoph
      Mushroom

      Re: A new standard in intergalactic warfare!

      It's still probably easier to wipe out their home planet with a Nicoll Dyson Laser

    3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re: A new standard in intergalactic warfare!

      The real question is: Is this a Galactic Patrol weapon or a Boskonian one?

      1. stuff and nonesense

        Re: A new standard in intergalactic warfare!

        Through any other lens this would be an obscure reference man

  3. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    Quick tell Trump!

    Nothing like an alien invasion to unite the world and stop us blowing one another to smithereens. (And if we've ever needed one we need one right about now.)

  4. Meph

    Hypervelocity...

    Based on what frame of reference? Are they really moving that quickly, or is it only an apparent velocity based on their momentum relative to the speed and direction of travel of the Milky Way itself?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hypervelocity...

      Of course based on the Milky Way, since they're observed here.

    2. Named coward

      Re: Hypervelocity...

      momentum relative to the speed ?

      They are travelling at some speed greater than the escape velocity of the Milky Way at their location, relative to the milky way rest frame. The speed relative to the Sun (or earth) can be greater or lesser than this speed, depending on their location and direction. So you can say they are traveling very fast. You can also say they are slow (compared to, say, the speed of light)

    3. Cuddles

      Re: Hypervelocity...

      "Are they really moving that quickly, or is it only an apparent velocity based on their momentum relative to the speed and direction of travel of the Milky Way itself?"

      What do you mean "really"? All velocities are measured relative to something else. Obviously since the question is why and how these stars are travelling faster than the escape velocity of the Milky Way, the frame of reference here is the Milky Way. Their velocities relative to other things will be entirely different. None of the velocities measured relative to anything are more or less real than any of the others, although the vast majority of them will be irrelevant in trying to figure out what's happening.

      What you're asking is essentially equivalent to asking whether a car moving at 30 mph is really moving that fast or is it just relative to the Earth's surface. Yes, that is the velocity relative to the Earth's surface. You could measure its velocity relative to the centre of mass of the Andromeda galaxy and that would be just as real, but not particularly useful.

  5. The humble print monkey

    Anyone for intergalactic bar billiards?

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch

      Anyone for intergalactic bar billiards?

      So long as it's not Brockian Ultra-Cricket, I'm game.

  6. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Joke

    I can just imagine the response from the EDL and the like

    Wa can't dese stars stay in their own galaxy? We don't want no forrin stars! Takin' our jobs an going too fast

  7. Doctor Syntax Silver badge
    Coat

    "National Astronomy"

    Isn't that a bit short-sighted?

    Are my specs in this pocket?

  8. Chris G

    One million hyper velocity black holes

    Worriesome, but less scary than Vogon poetry.

  9. EddieD

    Hmm

    Are they in Klemperer rosette formation?

  10. Axman

    Here's a novelty!

    An article (in the science section) that I actually fully understand from start to finish, and what's more, the conclusions makes sense to me.

  11. eldakka

    This is just FSM's version of skipping rocks on a lake.

  12. Cuddles

    central rotational center

    Presumably located near the Department of Redundancy Department?

  13. phuzz Silver badge

    If they're coming towards us, shouldn't that be a blue (shift) alert?

  14. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    Harmless enough as long as Earth is far enough away from any of them.

    Pretty much stuffed if not.

  15. Ian Michael Gumby
    Alien

    Ringworlds?

    While you can see these fast moving suns, did you notice the Dyson ring?

  16. JCitizen
    Unhappy

    Even at those speeds..

    which seem fantastic - it will probably take them forever to even get close enough to a star system to perturb it. In fact they may pass right though our entire galaxy and NEVER hit anything at all. That saddens me as I love collisions, but by that time the Earth will probably be destroyed by something completely unexpected. I certainly will not be around any more! I hope these massive computer simulations show data that can be made into a video - maybe even a 3D video to show them prancing through our universe without a care in the - uh - world. Heh, Heh!

  17. Pat Harkin

    Bloody foreign stars.

    Coming over here, fusing our hydrogren..

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