A star gone rogue tears through the Galaxy

The black hole at the Milky Way’s centre catapulted a Sun-like star to ‘hypervelocity’ speed.

The centre of the Milky Way (pictured) harbours a black hole that gave a mighty kick to a Sun-sized star. Credit: S. Gillessen et al ./European Southern Observatory/Science Photo Library

A star seen streaking across the cosmos was probably flung by the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way1. Unlike most objects in the Galaxy, these ‘rogue stars’ do not slowly circle the Galactic Centre, and could be used to probe the chemistry of the regions where they originated.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01591-9

References Cavieres, M., Koposov, S. E., Rossi, E. M., Penoyre, Z. & Verberne, S. Astronom. Astrophys. 709, A117 (2026). Download references

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