Artist’s impression of the magnetar in the extraordinary star cluster Westerlund 1

This artist’s impression shows the magnetar in the very rich and young star cluster Westerlund 1. 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 this 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. The result presents great challenges to current theories of how stars evolve, as a star as massive as this was expected to become a black hole, not a magnetar.

Crediti:

ESO/L. Calçada

A proposito dell'immagine

Identificazione:eso1034a
Tipo:Illustrazione
Data di pubblicazione:Mercoledì 18 Agosto 2010 12:00
Notizie relative:eso1034
Dimensione:4000 x 2827 px

A proposito delll'oggetto

Nome:Westerlund 1
Tipo:Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Neutron Star : Magnetar
Distanza:15000 Anni luce
Categoria:Illustrations
Stars

Formati delle immagini

JPEG grande
3,8 MB

Zoom


Sfondi

1024x768
339,4 KB
1280x1024
521,4 KB
1600x1200
736,1 KB
1920x1200
869,5 KB
2048x1536
1,2 MB