article_snippet: The star, known as US 708, was first discovered in 1982 by Dr Peter Usher of Pennsylvania State University but had since then remained ignored.
article_snippet: That enables us to study the behavioirs of extremely rare and weird stars like US 708.
article_snippet: US 708, which is a helium-rich white dwarf, was propelled at high speeds when a more massive white dwarf star nearby in a tight binary blew up.
article_snippet: The specific characteristics of this binary system, the secondary star distance and the mass of the secondary star companion, allowed US 708 to remain intact while still achieving record speeds for an unbound star.
article_snippet: US 708, which is a helium-rich white dwarf, was propelled at high speeds when a more massive white dwarf star nearby in a tight binary blew up (illustration shown). 
article_snippet: Astronomers hope that studying an unbound star could help reveal how such helium-rich stars and thermonuclear supernovae are linked.