Podcast: Hypervelocity Stars

Looking to hitch a ride out of the galaxy? You might want to buy a ticket on a hypervelocity star. These speedy sprites travel between one and two million miles per hour--fast enough to escape the gravitational pull of the entire galaxy. All stars in the Milky Way, including our sun, are moving: they orbit around the center of the galaxy. But those stars are going nowhere near the speed of hypervelocity stars. How do they get going so fast? A massive black hole, of course. Listen to the podcast ...