PSR J0002+6216 - "sprinter" among the stars

The rotation speed of stars around the galaxy centers does not usually exceed 100 km/sec. But in recent years, scientists have found increasingly more objects with significantly higher speeds and PSR J0002+6216 is one of the fastest recently- discovered stars.

The exotic space object is located in the Cassiopeia constellation, part of our galaxy 6.5 thousand light years away from our blue planet. It rockets at 1130 km/sec which makes it a true «sprinter» among the stars. According to American astronomers, if such dynamics it maintained, PSR J0002+6216 will in future leave the Milky Way.

This star is a pulsar — a neutron object that emerged after a supernova explosion. Observing its trajectory, scientists have come to a conclusion that the pulsar was formed about 10 thousand years ago.

A team of researchers headed by astrophysicist Dale Frail has already begun to study PSR J0002+6216 to learn more about the phases of star development.