NASA – Gigantic Object Traveling at 1 Million km/h Could Exit the Milky Way

Something truly bizarre is speeding through space—and NASA scientists, along with a few everyday volunteers, are still trying to figure out what it is. This mysterious red, glowing object, called CWISE J1249, is racing through the universe at a jaw-dropping 1.6 million kilometers per hour. That’s about 1 million miles per hour, fast enough to eventually leave the Milky Way galaxy entirely.

So, what exactly is this strange object? Let’s break it down.

Identity

CWISE J1249 is unlike anything we normally see. It’s enormous—about 30,000 times the size of Earth—but still relatively lightweight, with only around 8 percent of the Sun’s mass. That makes it hard to define.

It’s not massive enough to be a full-fledged star, but it’s far too large to be called a planet. Scientists believe it could be a brown dwarf—a rare type of object that lives in the strange space between stars and planets.

According to Dr. Darren Baskill, an astronomy expert at the University of Sussex, brown dwarfs are very tricky to study because they’re dim, cool, and often hiding in the background of space.

Discovery

Believe it or not, this object wasn’t found by a scientist at a space center—it was spotted by volunteers helping out with a NASA citizen science project called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9.

Three volunteers—Martin Kabatnik, Thomas P. Bickle, and Dan Caselden—were looking through sky maps taken by NASA’s WISE telescope when they saw something barely visible and moving unusually fast.

Curious, they flagged it for further study. With the help of ground-based telescopes, astronomers confirmed the object was real, new, and something never seen before. Those same volunteers even helped write the official scientific paper about it.

Speed

How fast is CWISE J1249 really going? It’s moving faster than almost anything we’ve ever recorded in the sky. Out of every 1,000 stars, only 1 or 2 move this quickly. If it continues on its current path, it will completely exit the Milky Way in just a few million years—which, in star time, is like a quick jog around the block.

For comparison, NASA’s fastest-ever spacecraft, the Parker Solar Probe, hit record speeds flying close to the Sun. But even Parker isn’t close—CWISE J1249 is going 2.6 times faster.

Origins

No one knows exactly why it’s traveling at such insane speeds, but there are a few solid guesses.

One theory suggests it was once in a double-star system, and its partner exploded in a powerful supernova. That explosion might have acted like a cosmic slingshot, launching J1249 into deep space.

Another theory says it could have gotten too close to two black holes, whose gravitational forces may have scattered the objects in a nearby star cluster, flinging J1249 away in the process.

Distance

Thankfully, this fast-flying object isn’t close enough to pose any danger. It’s about 400 light-years away from Earth, which is still relatively close on a cosmic scale, but safely out of reach.

What makes it so important is that it’s the first time scientists have found a brown dwarf—or any small star-like object—moving this fast. Studying it could unlock new secrets about how galaxies evolve and how unusual objects like this are formed.

Possibilities

Perhaps the coolest part of this whole story is that regular people helped discover it. You don’t need to work for NASA or have a science degree to participate in projects like Backyard Worlds. All you need is time, curiosity, and an internet connection.

Space is full of surprises, and there’s no telling what else is out there waiting to be found. One day, maybe you’ll be the one spotting a glowing red sphere hurtling across the stars.

FAQs