Flying through the young star cluster Westerlund 1 (artist's impression)

In this video we fly through the young star cluster Westerlund 1 and close in on the strange magnetar that lies within it. This remarkable cluster contains hundreds of very massive stars, some shining with a brilliance of almost one million suns. European astronomers have for the first time demonstrated that the magnetar — an unusual type of neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field — was formed from a star with at least 40 times as much mass as the Sun.

Credit:

ESO/L. Calçada

About the Video

Id:eso1034a
Release date:14 May 2014, 12:00
Related releases:eso1415, eso1034
Duration:30 s
Frame rate:30 fps

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