Thread: Isolated stars in intergalactic space?

I was wondering given that galaxies sometimes collide and leave streamers of stars behind them in their wake, if it's possible that there are rogue star systems left behind in the vastness between the galaxies? I imagine the night sky for a theoretical observer on a planet in such a system would be stunning with the discs of the receding galaxies filling the sky. Could such a system become so isolated with the passage of time that individual stars would no longer be visible? Just the ghostly pinwheels of nearby galaxies? Makes me curious as to which direction astronomy would evolve with the possible intelligent inhabitants of such an isolated star system.

I just joined today, and while i dont have the answer i do have to commend you for that post.. It was very interesting. In fact i wonder if it would be possible in the first place.. is a galaxy required for a star system to function? I dont think so, while the odds are slim that it would happen.

... I would think that the immense forces involved in the ejection of a star from it's parent galaxy would preclude any planets or accretion disks from staying with them.

Now, maybe a lone star could sweep up some dust, but... I think we're getting into the realm of impossibly long odds at this point.

Hi Tom: Someone said long ago that the escape velocity from the surface of planet Earth is 39,000 miles per hour. They did not say escape to where but perhaps they meant you would reach the Centauri system in a few million years if you launched at 39,000 miles per hour neglecting, likely, air resistance. Perhaps the escape velocity from The ISS = international space station is about 1/2 that fast = 20,000 miles per hour. These are likely minimum speeds under ideal conditions such as an optimum window and optimum direction. The Earth is orbiting the Sun and the Sun orbiting our galaxy at considerably higher velocities (with respect to what?) so perhaps 300,000 miles per hour is necessary with respect to the ISS to escape our galaxy, besides the launch window occurring very rarely and the launch direction being critical. The first 100,000 light years of travel would take perhaps ten million years, so this is very long term. In some directions, you would, however, be well outside our galaxy, as it is about 10,000 light years thick in our vicinity.
Our best telescopes likely cannot see a small galaxy of M class, L, t and brown dwarfs 100,000 light years away = some brighter stars are necessary. (I think the brightest class O stars can be resolved individually with our best telescopes out to about a billion light years, but I am guessing) Possibly such an invisible galaxy is presently at this position 100,000 light years from us. To get lots farther outside our galaxy than 95,000 light years would perhaps a billion of years, so perhaps we are interpreting those streamers incorrectly, or so it seems to me. Neil