Kapteyn's Star

[jah79]

Very interesting article on the New Scientist page today:

Backward star ain't from around here - space - 11 November 2009 - New Scientist

[661-pete]

Interesting read. The link to Omega Cen. is certainly an eye-opener, but other so-called 'halo stars' are known, although they are rare: another example, also with a very high proper motion, is Groombridge 1830, in Ursa Major. I don't know if its origin has been traced.

Someone once suggested I use Groombridge 1830's PM for my 'animation' project, instead of Barnard's star (a galactic native) but I decided to stick with Barnard's. Kapteyn's, of course, is not visible from northern Europe.

At magnitude 6.4, Groombridge 1830 is easily visible in bins (or naked eye in exceptionally dark sky), though not very interesting.