Star leaving Milky Way at record speeds detected

 Astronomers have identified the fastest ever star on an escape trajectory from the Milky Way — travelling at a record breaking speed of 1,200 km per second.

The unbound star, named US708, is travelling at the fastest speed ever recorded for such an object in our galaxy — meaning it is not held back by gravity and will eventually leave the Milky Way. 

US708 is believed to have once been part of a double-star solar system, which also included a massive white dwarf star. The white dwarf is thought to have turned into a ‘thermonuclear supernovae’ and exploded, kicking US708 and sending it hurtling across space, researchers said.

The discovery of US708 by an international team sheds light on the mysterious double-star systems that give rise to thermonuclear explosions.

Thermonuclear, or ‘type Ia’, supernovae have long been used to calculate the distances to faraway galaxies - a measurement which helps to determine how the universe is changing and expanding. Researchers made the ground-breaking discovery using data gathered by the Pan-STARRS1 telescope on Mount Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui.