runaway star

A young hot star travelling through space with an unusually high velocity. It is thought that such stars could originally have been in binary or multiple systems where a companion exploded as a supernova. Three well-known examples are Mu (m) Columbae, AE Aurigae and 53 Arietis. From their speeds and directions of motion it has been calculated that all three were ejected from a common region in the constellation Orion about three million years ago.