We saw one of the most powerful magnets in the Universe come to life – and our theories can’t quite explain it

Mon, 6 May 2024 19:31:32 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/we-saw-one-of-the-most-powerful-magnets-in-the-universe-come-to-life-and-our-theories-cant-quite-explain-it-226312>

"After a decade of silence, one of the most powerful magnets in the universe
suddenly burst back to life in late 2018. The reawakening of this “magnetar”, a
city-sized star named XTE J1810-197 born from a supernova explosion, was an
incredibly violent affair.

The snapping and untwisting of the tangled magnetic field released enormous
amounts of energy as gamma rays, X-rays and radio waves.

By catching magnetar outbursts like this in action, astronomers are beginning
to understand what drives their erratic behaviour. We are also finding
potential links to enigmatic flashes of radio light seen from distant galaxies
known as fast radio bursts.

In two new pieces of research published in Nature Astronomy, we used three of
the world’s largest radio telescopes to capture a host of never before seen
changes in the radio waves emitted by one of these rare objects in
unprecedented detail."

Share and enjoy,
               *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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