The hibernating stellar magnet (artist's impression)

Astronomers have discovered a possible magnetar that emitted 40 visible-light flashes before disappearing again. Magnetars are young neutron stars with an ultra-strong magnetic field a billion times stronger than that of the Earth. The twisting of magnetic field lines in magnetars give rise to ''starquakes'', which will eventually lead to an intense soft gamma-ray burst. In the case of the SWIFT source, the optical flares that reached the Earth were probably due to ions ripped out from the surface of the magnetar and gyrating around the field lines.

Crediti:

Credit: ESO/L.Calçada.

A proposito dell'immagine

Identificazione:eso0831a
Tipo:Illustrazione
Data di pubblicazione:23 Settembre 2008
Notizie relative:eso0831
Dimensione:3000 x 2000 px

A proposito delll'oggetto

Nome:Stars
Tipo:Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Neutron Star : Magnetar
Distanza:15000 Anni luce
Categoria:Illustrations
Stars

Formati delle immagini

JPEG grande
2,1 MB

Sfondi

1024x768
288,5 KB
1280x1024
472,9 KB
1600x1200
688,9 KB
1920x1200
821,2 KB
2048x1536
1,1 MB