Awed by a magnetar

Some 6.3 billion years ago, in a galaxy far from Earth, a monster star died with a colossal bang. In a few hours, it blasted out more than 500 times the energy the Sun will churn through in its lifetime. What could have powered such a gargantuan explosion? A rare and exotic celestial object known as a magnetar, says an international team of astrophysicists in a study published in Nature in July.

Source: Cosmos Magazine

Biggest Explosions in the Universe Powered by Strongest Magnets

Observations from ESO’s La Silla and Paranal Observatories in Chile have for the first time demonstrated a link between a very long-lasting burst of gamma rays and an unusually bright supernova explosion. The results show that the supernova was not driven by radioactive decay, as expected, but was instead powered by the decaying super-strong magnetic fields around an exotic object called a magnetar.

This artist’s impression shows a supernova and associated gamma-ray burst driven by a rapidly spinning neutron star with a very strong magnetic field — an exotic object known as a magnetar. Source: ESO