Chandra Discovers a Cosmic Cannonball

At about 0.45% of c, this is probably the fastest astronomical object ever measured.

The Milky Way itself is apparently moving at about 1.5 million mph towards the 'Big Attractor', so this 'RX-J...' is beating it's own galaxy for speed! It will probably not only escape the Galaxy, but also the local group and more.

The proposed mechanism of an asymmetrical supernova explosion is interesting, because it should have produced lots of gravitational waves. The thing probably happened too long ago for those waves to be detectable now, but if there was one such event, there could be more...

Jorrie

'Big Attractor'?

Oops, I should have written "Great Attractor"!

Jorrie

Hi Jorrie,

Trust that you can answer this as I wonder about these things (yes wonder is the right word as it never fails to leave me in awe).

If they can still detect background noise from the supposed big bang, why do they have difficulty with waves from this super nova only 3700 years ago?

Thanks,

Kees

Hypervelocity stars are thought to have been ejected by interactions with a supermassive black hole in the Galaxy's center, which can act as a sort of "gravitational slingshot." This neutron star, by contrast, was flung into motion by a supernova. Data suggest the explosion was lop-sided, kicking the neutron star in one direction and the debris from the explosion in the other.

Does this mean that they should, theoretically, be able to detect the debris on the other side of its original position, moving away with the same but opposed speed?

Some law on energy and mass would suggest such a thing I thought?