Massive Stars on the Run: Astronomers Discover Milky Way Escapees

Astronomers have discovered dozens of massive stars that are fleeing the Milky Way. These runaway stars, which have significant peculiar velocities, were identified through a combination of data from the Gaia spacecraft and two stellar catalogues. The study found that a higher percentage of O-type stars, which are young and hot, are runaway stars compared to Be-type stars. The findings suggest that the dynamical ejection scenario, involving gravitational interactions in densely packed regions, is more likely than the binary supernova scenario in explaining the phenomenon of runaway stars.