Runaway planets zoom at a fraction of light speed
Thursday, March 22, 2012 - 11:31
in Astronomy & Space
Seven years ago, astronomers boggled when they found the first runaway star flying out of our galaxy at a speed of 1.5 million miles per hour. The discovery intrigued theorists, who wondered: if a star can get tossed outward at such an extreme velocity, could the same thing happen to planets? New research shows that the answer is yes.