A hypervelocity star drags the Neptune-like planet across the galaxy Highlights Fastest exoplanet discovered, moving at 1.2M mph in deep space A hypervelocity star drags the Neptune-like planet across the galaxy Astronomers use microlensing and Gaia data to track the rare find Advertisement A planet believed to be a Neptune-like world is suspected to be orbiting a hypervelocity star moving at a staggering 1.9 million kilometres per hour, making it the fastest known exoplanetary system ever observed. If confirmed, this would mark the first instance of a planet being found accompanying such a rapidly moving star. The discovery was made by a team of NASA researchers who analysed data that dates back to 2011. The existence of this system was identified through microlensing, a technique predicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which allows the detection of distant cosmic bodies by observing how their gravity bends the light from background stars. Discovery Through Microlensing According to a study published in The Astronomical Journal, a signal indicating the presence of two objects was detected. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center researcher Sean Terry stated to Space.com that the system is thought to consist of a super-Neptune orbiting a low-mass star at a distance comparable to the space between Venus and Earth. The gravitational lensing effect enabled scientists to determine the mass ratio between the two objects, though the exact measurements remain uncertain. David Bennett, a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland and NASA Goddard, explained to Space.com that calculating the mass ratio is straightforward, but pinpointing the exact masses is significantly more complex due to the system's distance.