Astronomers have found an explanation for the strange occurrence of massive stars located far from their birthplace in the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Stars more massive than the Sun have very hot cores that drive nuclear energy generation at very high rates. They are among the brightest objects in our galaxy. But because they burn through their hydrogen fuel so quickly, their lifetimes are relatively short, perhaps 10 million years compared to 10 billion years for the Sun.

Their short lifetime means that there is little time for them to stray too far from their birthplace. Most massive stars are found in the flat disk part of our galaxy, where gas clouds are dense enough to promote star birth and where astronomers find young clusters of massive stars.

So, when a massive star is found far away from the galaxy’s disk, how did it get there?

«Astronomers are finding massive stars far away from their place of origin, so far, in fact, that it takes longer than the star’s lifetime to get there,» said Georgia State astronomer Douglas Gies. «How this could happen is a topic of active debate among scientists.»

This is the problem presented by the massive star known as HD93521 that lies about 3,600 light years above the galaxy’s disk. A new study by Gies and other astronomers from Georgia State reveals a profound discrepancy: The flight time to reach this location far exceeds the predicted age of this massive star.

Story Source: Materials provided by Georgia State University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.