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Big Boom
After a gamma-ray attack hit astronomers’ telescopes in May, they rushed to train other instruments on what they assumed was a merger of two neutron stars.
The resulting explosion was ten times stronger than they expected, according to Space.com. Accordingly, research conducted by Northwestern University, which will be published in The Astrophysical Journal, concludes that astronomers have observed the very rare birth of a type of dead star called a magnetar.
Unusual Fusion
Neutron stars are the extremely dense remnants of dead stars that exploded in a supernova but were not large enough to collapse into a new black hole. Magnetars are a class of neutron stars known for producing the most powerful magnetic fields in the universe.
“We know magnetars exist because we see them in our own galaxy,” lead author of the study and northwestern astronomer Wen-fai Fong said in a news release. “We think that most of them formed in the explosive death of massive stars, leaving these highly magnetized neutron stars behind. However, it is possible that a small fraction formed in neutron star mergers. We have never seen evidence of this before, let alone in infrared light, making this discovery special. “
Faster gun
The unusual discovery stems from the fact that scientists were extremely fast with their tools. If they had been slower, they might have missed the show altogether.
“Surprisingly, Hubble was only able to take an image three days after the outbreak,” Fong said in a different version. “When Hubble looked again at 16 days and 55 days, we knew we didn’t just catch the fading [merger], but we also discovered something very unusual. “
READ MORE: Scientists spot a “kilonova” flash so bright that they can barely explain it [Space.com]
More on magnetars: A dead star gave away something scientists have never seen before
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