Stellar paternity tests: Tracing runaway stars back to their galactic nurseries

Star system: AE Aurigae | Distance from the Sun: 1267 light years

Most massive stars are born within crowded clusters in the flat disk of our Milky Way, yet some are found drifting far above or below this plane. By tracing the movements of 39 high-latitude B-type stars and nearly 450 star clusters using Gaia satellite data, researchers have successfully linked five of these 'orphaned' stars to their original birthplaces. 

These stars were likely kicked out of their home clusters millions of years ago at high speeds. By matching the stars' current paths and ages with those of known clusters, scientists can now better understand the violent gravitational processes that eject stars from their cosmic neighborhoods and send them racing into deep space.

Scientific study

Stellar Paternity Tests: Matching High-Latitude B Stars to the Open Clusters of their Birth (external link)