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European Satellites Probe a New Magnetar
June 17, 2009On Aug. 22, 2008, NASA's Swift satellite reported multiple blasts of radiation from a rare object known as a soft gamma repeater, or SGR. Now, astronomers report an in-depth study of these eruptions using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton and International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) satellites.
The object, designated SGR 0501+4516, was the first of its type discovered in a decade and is only the fifth confirmed SGR. "Some sources are extremely active, but others can be quiet for a decade or more," said Nanda Rea, University of Amsterdam, who led the study. "This suggests many members of this class remain unknown."
Both SGRs and a related group of high-energy neutron stars -- called anomalous X-ray pulsars -- are thought to be magnetars. But, all told, astronomers know of only 15 examples.
SGR 0501+4516, estimated to lie about 15,000 light years away, was only discovered because its outburst gave it away. Astronomers think an unstable configuration of the star's magnetic field triggers the eruptions. "Once the magnetic field resumes a more stable configuration, the activity ceases and the star returns to quiet and dim emission," Rea said.
Twelve hours after Swift pinpointed SGR 0501+4516, XMM-Newton began the most detailed study of a fading magnetar outburst ever attempted. The object underwent hundreds of small bursts over a period of more than four months. Only five days after the initial eruption, INTEGRAL detected X-rays from the object that were beyond the energy range XMM-Newton can see. It's the first time such transient high-energy X-ray emission has been detected during an SGR's outburst phase. This emission disappeared within ten days of the outburst. The findings were published online June 15 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The team plans further observations of SGR 0501+4516 with XMM-Newton. They hope to detect the object in a quiet state in order to probe the calm after the storm.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Magnetar Current Events and Magnetar News RSSGiant eruption reveals 'dead' star
An enormous eruption has found its way to Earth after travelling for many thousands of years across space. Studying this blast with ESA's XMM-Newton and Integral space observatories, astronomers have discovered a dead star belonging to a rare group: the magnetars.
Star crust 10 billion times stronger than steel, IU physicist finds
Research by a theoretical physicist at Indiana University shows that the crusts of neutron stars are 10 billion times stronger than steel or any other of the earth's strongest metal alloys.
NASA's Swift, Fermi Probe Fireworks From a Flaring Gamma-Ray Star
Astronomers using NASA's Swift satellite and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope are seeing frequent blasts from a stellar remnant 30,000 light-years away.
CSI: Milky Way team works scene of dead star
Like a team of forensic detectives in a television show that could be called "CSI: Milky Way," a University of Chicago astrophysicist and his associates are piecing together how a mysterious infrared ring got left around a dead star that displays a magnetic field trillions of times more intense than Earth's.
Scientists Find Giant Ring Encircling Exotic Dead Star
One of the most powerful eruptions in the universe might have spun an infrared ring around a rare and exotic star known as a magnetar, a highly magnetized neutron star and the remnant of a brilliant supernova explosion signaling the death throes of a massive star.
Powerful explosions suggest neutron star missing link
Observations from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) have revealed that the youngest known pulsing neutron star has thrown a temper tantrum.
Jekyll-Hyde neutron star discovered by researchers
Like something out of a Robert Louis Stevenson novel, researchers at NASA and McGill University discovered an otherwise normal pulsar which violently transformed itself temporarily into a magnetar, a stellar metamorphosis never observed before.
UO plays key role in LIGO's new view of a cosmic event
An international team of physicists, including University of Oregon scientists, has concluded that last February's intense burst of gamma rays possibly coming from the Andromeda Galaxy lacked a gravitational wave. That absence, they say, rules out an initial interpretation that the burst came from merging neutron stars or black holes within Andromeda.
Science with Integral -- 5 years on
With eyes that peer into the most energetic phenomena in the universe, ESA's Integral has been setting records, discovering the unexpected and helping understanding the unknown over its first five years.
Robotic telescope unravels mystery of cosmic blasts
Scientists have used the world's largest robotic telescope to make the earliest-ever measurement of the optical polarisation* of a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) just 203 seconds after the start of the cosmic explosion. This finding, which provides new insight into GRB physics, is published in Science today (15th March 2007).
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40 Years of Pulsars: Millisecond Pulsars, Magnetars and More (AIP Conference Proceedings / Astronomy and Astrophysics) by C. Bassa (Author), C. Bassa (Editor), Z. Wang (Editor), A. Cumming (Editor), V.M. Kaspi (Editor) This conference was in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the discovery of radio pulsars in the summer of 1967. The conference highlighted the important discoveries of the last 40 years and addressed the most interesting and topical areas of neutron star astrophysics today. These areas included pulsar searches and timing, accretion and neutron-star recycling, millisecond pulsars in the field and in globular clusters, young neutron stars including magnetars, traditional Crab-like pulsars, and isolated neutron stars, glitches, precession, and nulling, as well as binary pulsars, including the double pulsar, constraints on mass, radius, and equation of state of neutron stars, as well as discussion of new and future instrumentation. The conference was opened by a talk about the... | |
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SGR 1806-20 Magnetar Including Magnetic Field Lines Art Photographic Poster Print by Stocktrek Images, 16x12 by AllPosters.com AllPosters.com is the world's #1 seller of posters, prints, photographs, specialty products and framed art. We're dedicated to bringing our customers the best selection of high quality wall décor that is perfect for their home or office. Browse our catalog of over 300,000 items that include entertainment and specialty posters, decorative prints, and art reproductions. Whether you're looking for your favorite movie or music poster, a framed Monet reproduction, or a print of the Eiffel Tower you will find it at AllPosters.com. Visit our Amazon store today at www.amazon.com/allposters to find Special Offers and search by subject category or artist. AllPosters.com provides unmatched service with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. We ship internationally to over 80 countries. Decorate your... |
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Magnetar With a Capital 'm' Brad Williams Five (Primary Contributor) |
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Stars and Glaxies (Dark Energy, Cannibal Galaxies, Hypernovae Gamma-Ray Beams, Magnetars) by Thomson (Publisher) | |
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SGR 1806-20 Magnetar Including Magnetic Field Lines Art Photographic Poster Print by Stocktrek Images, 40x30 by AllPosters.com AllPosters.com is the world's #1 seller of posters, prints, photographs, specialty products and framed art. We're dedicated to bringing our customers the best selection of high quality wall décor that is perfect for their home or office. Browse our catalog of over 300,000 items that include entertainment and specialty posters, decorative prints, and art reproductions. Whether you're looking for your favorite movie or music poster, a framed Monet reproduction, or a print of the Eiffel Tower you will find it at AllPosters.com. Visit our Amazon store today at www.amazon.com/allposters to find Special Offers and search by subject category or artist. AllPosters.com provides unmatched service with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. We ship internationally to over 80 countries. Decorate your... |
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Neutron Stars and Pulsars (Astrophysics and Space Science Library) by Werner Becker (Author), Werner Becker (Editor) Neutron stars are the most compact astronomical objects in the universe which are accessible by direct observation. Studying neutron stars means studying physics in regimes unattainable in any terrestrial laboratory. Understanding their observed complex phenomena requires a wide range of scientific disciplines, including the nuclear and condensed matter physics of very dense matter in neutron star interiors, plasma physics and quantum electrodynamics of magnetospheres, and the relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics of electron-positron pulsar winds interacting with some ambient medium. Not to mention the test bed neutron stars provide for general relativity theories, and their importance as potential sources of gravitational waves. It is this variety of disciplines which, among... |
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