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Dozens of massive stars launched from young star cluster R136

Astronomers have used data from the European Gaia Space Telescope to discover 55 high-speed stars launched from the young star cluster R136 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. This increases tenfold the number of known “runaway stars” in this region. The team of astronomers from the University of Amsterdam, Leiden University and Radboud University (Netherlands), among others, is publishing the results this week in Nature.
Artistic impression of star cluster R136 containing hundreds of thousands of stars in a huge star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In two bursts in the last two million years, 55 massive stars have been ejected at speeds above 100,000 km/hr. This is an artistic impression; the runaway stars are actually like the white dots seen all over the field. Data from GAIA is needed to determine which stars are launched from the cluster.
Artistic impression of star cluster R136 containing hundreds of thousands of stars in a huge star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In two bursts in the last two million years, 55 massive stars have been ejected at speeds above 100,000 km/hr. This is an artistic impression; the runaway stars are actually like the white dots seen all over the field. Data from GAIA is needed to determine which stars are launched from the cluster. Credit: Danielle Futselaar, James Webb Space Telescope/NIRCam - NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI.

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