Retrograde star orbits in the Milky Way

[lifeonmercury]

Are there any stars in the solar neighborhood that orbit the galactic center in the opposite direction?

 

[stoomart]

Are there any stars in the solar neighborhood that orbit the galactic center in the opposite direction?

Not sure if this counts, it's a fun video with some corny music:

 

[rootone]

Are there any stars in the solar neighborhood that orbit the galactic center in the opposite direction?

None known, and no reason (that I know of) to expect that there might be.

 

[lifeonmercury]

What about stars with retrograde rotation (like Venus and Uranus)?

 

[Bandersnatch]

What about stars with retrograde rotation (like Venus and Uranus)?

These are 'wandering stars', which in greek is asteria planetes, from which the English word 'planets' derives.
That is, these are not actual stars. :)

Furthermore, retrograde rotation is not the same as retrograde orbit. The difference is the same as between a day and a year.

So, perhaps you can tell us exactly what you're looking for - it might be easier to get you an answer.

 

[rootone]

All planets orbit the Sun in the same direction,
Note that is the SUN, and has nothing to do with the galactic center.
Sometimes a planet as seen from Earth appears to reverse then go forward again.
However it isn't really doing that, this is an illusion due to the different speed of planet orbits.
Rather like if you have a fast car and overtake a slower one, it look similar to as if the slow car moved backwards.

 

[lifeonmercury]

Sorry for the confusion. I understand the difference between retrograde orbit and retrograde rotation. After my original question was answered that there are no known stars in the Milky Way with a retrograde orbit, I then asked if any stars have a retrograde rotation. "Like Venus and Uranus" was intended to solely point out their retrograde rotation with regard to our sun. I wasn't implying that these are stars.
Does the black hole at the galactic center spin in a certain direction that we can detect?

 

[rootone]

Ah, as for actual stars rather than planets.
While they all appear to be rotating around the galactic center in the same direction, (more or less),
that direction is is not correlated with their spin around their own axis.
As far as I know the spin on their own axis, as far as can be determined. which can be hard, it can be just about anything.
Certainly it is not correlated with the spin of our Sun on it's axis, or with the orbits of solar planets.

 

[glappkaeft]

Sorry for the confusion. I understand the difference between retrograde orbit and retrograde rotation. After my original question was answered that there are no known stars in the Milky Way with a retrograde orbit, I then asked if any stars have a retrograde rotation.

No, people answered you question: Are there any nearby stars in retrograde orbit?

The answer to that depends a lot if your definition of nearby (I would consider within 10 ly, 100 ly, 1000 ly, 10000 ly all to be resonable definitions of nearby depending on you purpose). There are however billions of stars in retrograde galactic orbits in the milky way, most of them are in the halo, in-falling star streams from dwarf galaxies being absorbed or in the galactic bulge. They are mostly tens or hundreds of thousand light years away from Earth but at just 12 ly one star that is hard to exclude is the M1 sub-dwarf Halo star known as Kapteyn's Star (A&A paper).

 

[stoomart]

There are however billions of stars in retrograde galactic orbits in the milky way, most of them are in the halo, in-falling star streams from dwarf galaxies being absorbed or in the galactic bulge. They are mostly tens or hundreds of thousand light years away from Earth but at just 12 ly one star that is hard to exclude is the M1 sub-dwarf Halo star known as Kapteyn's Star (A&A paper).

Interesting! From Wikipedia's article Retrograde and prograde motion:

Stars with a retrograde orbit are more likely to be found in the galactic halo than in the galactic disk. The Milky Way's outer halo has many globular clusters with a retrograde orbit and with a retrograde or zero rotation.

 

[snorkack]

So, stars with retrograde orbit exist, and the nearest of them is Kapteyn's star.
No objects qualifying as planets orbit Sun in a retrograde direction. However, a number of bodies do orbit Sun in retrograde directions, but are classified as minor planets or comets rather than planets. Most conspicuously Halley Comet.

 

[lifeonmercury]

A star that is tidally locked with the galactic center is also possible I suppose.

 

[virgil1612]

Are there any stars in the solar neighborhood that orbit the galactic center in the opposite direction?

I'm merely speculating here, but I guess a galactic collision between a big galaxy like ours and a much smaller galaxy (so that the big galaxy does not lose it's individuality) could produce retrograde motions of stars.

 

[glappkaeft]

A star that is tidally locked with the galactic center is also possible I suppose.

No, I don't think so and I have never heard about it before. How would it even work?

 

[rootone]

I guess this means, could a star be tidally locked with Sag A*, the SMBH embedded in the core.
If it is possible at all it would have to be very close to the SMBH.
Stars further out would be overwhelming more subject to gravitational influence of nearby stars in the own region.

 

[mfb]

Stars with a retrograde orbit are more likely to be found in the galactic halo than in the galactic disk.

While technically correct, it hides the causal order. The Milky Way started with gas clouds with a random total angular momentum, which then assembled to a disk over time based on collisions between gas clouds. Those clouds then formed the stars in the disk with prograde motion. Stars with retrograde motion were captured from outside or got their motion from violent events in binary systems (e. g. their partner star exploded in a supernova) or similar events.