The magnetars are a rare class of stars of high energy neutrons. In 2013 an international team of astronomers came up with one of these small but powerful stars near the black hole in the center of the Milky Lacte. New measurements indicate that this magnetar is apparently inexhaustible.
The study of this star just published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. When a supermassive star collapses under its own mass effect and explodes as a supernova, one of the possible results is the formation of a neutron star. Magnetars are special types of neutron stars, despite its small size, emit huge amounts of gamma radiation and strong magnetic fields. Hence its name.
The discovered magnetar in 2013 and whose name is SGR 1745 to 2900 is by far the closest neutron star to a black hole ever discovered. Astronomers emitted signal measured each month in order to find out its cooling rate. Calculations have surprised scientists because the magnetar not cooled to the speed at which they do other similar stars. It very slowly
Nanda Rea, CSIC researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences in Barcelona, and the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands explained.
In this study we managed to observe the star from space every month and have managed to gauge how cools. And what we’ve found is that the cooling rate of the star is very, very slow compared to other magnetars. To measure the magnetar, which is also a pulsar (pulsing star), we have used data collected over a year and a half by a set of space telescopes like the Chandra X-ray Observatory of NASA, and XMM -Newton, ESA
This finding challenges cooling models very magnetic stars and can have an impact on our knowledge of nuclear physics under magnetic fields and gravitational very ends.
The reason that this star does not cool as the other is still a mystery. At first it was believed by some influence of the black hole in the vicinity, but that hypothesis has been discarded. What is now considered is that there is another added heating mechanism, such as a small beam of intense magnetic fields crossed that adds heat to the star. [Via CSIC]
Cover illustration: Magnetar, by Nanda Rea and Jeff Michaud, Kanijoman via Flickr, Creative Commons
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