, - 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 A radio-quiet neutron star is a neutron star that does not seem to emit radio emissions, but is still visible to Earth through electromagnetic radiation at other parts of the spectrum, particularly X-rays and gamma rays. Background Most detected ...

currently moving away from the center of the

Puppis A Puppis A (Pup A) is a supernova remnant (SNR) about 100 light-years in diameter and roughly 6500–7000 light-years distant. Its apparent angular diameter is about 1 degree. The light of the supernova explosion reached Earth approximately 3700 ye ...

supernova remnant A supernova remnant (SNR) 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 mat ...

at , making it one of the fastest moving stars ever found. Earlier, it was believed to move with speed as high as 1,500 km/s. Astronomers used NASA's

Chandra X-ray Observatory The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), is a Flagship-class space telescope launched aboard the during STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources ...

to observe the star over a period of 11 years to determine its speed. Although the cosmic cannonball is not the only

hypervelocity star In astronomy, stellar kinematics is the Observational astronomy, observational study or measurement of the kinematics or motions of stars through space. Stellar kinematics encompasses the measurement of stellar Velocity, velocities in the Milky ...

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 A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions, of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical ...

Sagittarius A* Sagittarius A*, abbreviated as Sgr A* ( ), is the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. Viewed from Earth, it is located near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius, about 5.6° south o ...

. Current theories fail to explain how such speeds can be attained from a supernova explosion. It could be a possible quark star.

External links

"Cosmic Canonball: One Of The Fastest Stars Ever Seen Challenges Astronomy Theories"
''ScienceDaily'', (2007)

Science@NASA (28 October 2007) * Chandra X-Ray Observatory
"RX J0822-4300 in Puppis A: Chandra Discovers Cosmic Cannonball"
28 November 2007 *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:RX J0822-4300 Radio-quiet neutron stars 06.5 Hypervelocity stars Puppis ROSAT objects

See also

External links

References