Hello AIG members

Something really unusual about 'lost' stars I thought you might enjoy....

Imagine standing on a planet that is orbiting an INTERGALACTIC STAR, a star lost in space.

Intergalactic stars are stars that exist all on their own in the empty space between galaxies.

In the vicinity of such a star you would look up at night and see absolutely no other stars, just the blackest of space, with perhaps the faint glow of a few dim and very distant galaxies.......

Attached is an artist's impression of what the view from a planet orbiting such a star might look like.

How do these stars get to be out there all on their own, far from the warmth and common gravity of other 'normal' stars within galaxies?

Well, at a media function this past Tuesday on recent discoveries related to intergalactic stars, Dr David Malin, honorary member of our Astronomy Interest Group (and also renowned astro-photographer) explained:

'Galaxies jostle and harass each other, and you'd expect that a lot of stars get flung out of them. Some stars are ripped from their home galaxies as the galaxies 'rub shoulders'. Yet the amount of space between the galaxies is so big that these 'lost sheep' have been hard to find until now.'

Using new techniques though, Dr Malin and his collaborators are finding more and more intergalactic stars - all of which has implications for the standard Big Bang Theory (you can read more at: www.csiro.au/news/mediarel/mr1999/mr9953.html).

Intergalactic stars are quite an astounding phenomenon, don't you think?

I can't imagine a more lonely place in the entire universe........in deep space around a single star, billions of light years from any neighbours whatsoever............wow..........

Intelligent beings around SUCH a star could be forgiven for thinking they were unique, the centre-piece of the entire universe. We humans on the other hand, orbiting an average star in an average galaxy, how arrogant of us to think that we hold some special place in this vast universe...........

Regards