This is fascinating. When a binary star system drifts too close to a black hole, one star (and its planets) is flung into outer space at high speeds, and the other star is captured into orbit around the black hole. But here's the interesting part: the captured star's planets are flung into outer space at even higher speeds, making them possibly the fastest massive objects in the universe.
That said, it doesn't put theories of faster-than-light travel viia wormholes or negative energy out of question – but is an interesting conjecture for objects bound to newtonian physics and euclidian geometry.
/via +Winchell Chung
Reshared post from +Ray Sanders
Here's my latest post over at +Universe Today where I help answer the question "Can 'Warp Speed' Planets Zoom Through Interstellar Space?"
Can “Warp Speed” Planets Zoom Through Interstellar Space?
Nearly ten years ago, astronomers were stunned to discover a star that had been apparently flung from its own system and travelling at over a million kilometers
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