![]() Cosmic lighthousesĪ few magnetars are also pulsars, those celestial lighthouses that sweep the sky with powerful radio beams (and, rarely, beams of visible light too, such as in the case of the Crab Nebula). We also stand to learn more about neutron stars from the gravitational waves they generate when two of them collide, such as in the famous gravitational-wave event GW170817. NICER’s primary mission is to do in-depth studies of neutron stars. The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer ( NICER) is an X-ray telescope launched in 2017 to the International Space Station. So far, NICER has enabled astronomers to make more accurate measurements regarding size and density parameters of these strange cosmic beasts. Its specific goal is to determine what exactly is inside neutron stars. In an effort to solve this enigma, astronomers launched an instrument called the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer ( NICER) to the International Space Station in 2017. Or, the field may simply have its origins in its progenitor star – the kind of star it was before it become a neutron star – which may have had an unusually strong magnetic field. Thus, when the star rotates, it would behave like a huge dynamo, generating an immense magnetic field. The magnetic field of a magnetar may be caused by a neutron star’s interior – thought to be made up of neutrons, quarks and exotic states of matter such as Bose-Einstein Condensates – becoming a superconducting fluid. Just one sugar cube-sized amount of neutron star material would weigh a billion tons on the Earth … about the same as an average mountain! ![]() However, it probably relates to the incredible density of neutron stars and their bizarre interiors. What gives a magnetar its magnetism?Īstrophysicists do not yet know exactly how a magnetar generates its stupendous magnetic field. This is an artist’s concept of the messy magnetic fields surrounding such a neutron star. A magnetar is a type of neutron star, believed to possess an extremely powerful magnetic field and to be a candidate for causing many fast radio bursts. They are therefore associated with extreme events in the universe, making them perhaps the most bizarre objects in the cosmos next to black holes.Īs an example of extreme behavior, in 2004 a flare on the surface of a magnetar compressed the magnetic field of the Earth … from a distance of 50,000 light years! When you consider that a neutron star is about the size of a city – a recent revision of neutron star size puts it at maximum of 15 miles (24 km) across – but may contain 1 1/2 times the mass of our sun, it is incredible that a such a tiny object can generate enough energy to affect others at such a vast distance. A magnetar is extreme in many waysĪpart from these ultra-powerful magnetic fields, magnetars also release vast amounts of energy in the form of flares, X-rays, and gamma-ray bursts. Its magnetic field would destroy your body, tearing away electrons from your atoms and converting you into a cloud of monatomic ions, that is, single atoms without electrons. If you were to venture closer to a magnetar than about 600 miles (1,000 km), you would die very quickly. Magnetars are, by far, the most magnetic stars in the universe. ![]() The field is about 1,000 times stronger than a normal neutron star and about a trillion times stronger than the Earth’s. Magnetic magnetarsĬan you imagine a magnet so powerful that it could wipe every credit card on Earth from a distance halfway to the moon? That is how strong the magnetic field of a magnetar is! A magnetar is an exotic type of neutron star, its defining feature that it has an ultra-powerful magnetic field. That is, it’s a swiftly rotatating neutron star that pulsates like a cosmic lighthouse once every 1.4 seconds. This particular magnetar – a neutron star with an immensely strong magnetic field – is extra special, because X-ray observations show that it is also a pulsar. Astronomers detected the 31st known magnetar, J1818.0-1607, in 2020.
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