Free Courses Sale ends Soon, Get It Now


MAGNETAR          

27th December, 2021

 

Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended.

Context

  • An international group of researchers has succeeded in measuring for the first time the characteristics of a flare on a distant magnetar.

 

Magnetar

  • A magnetar is a type of neutron star that has an extremely powerful magnetic field.
  • Neutron stars are formed when the core of a massive star undergoes gravitational collapse when it reaches the end of its life.
  • This results in the matter being so tightly packed that even a sugar-cube sized amount of material taken from such a star weighs more than 1 billion tons.
  • Magnetars are a subclass of these neutrons and occasionally release flares with more energy in a fraction of a second than the Sun is capable of emitting in tens of thousands of years.
  • Like other neutron stars, magnetars are around 20 kilometres in diameter and are formed by the collapse of a star

with a mass 10–25 times that of the Sun and have a mass about 1.4 solar masses.

  • The density of the interior of a magnetar is extremely high (tablespoon of its substance would have a mass of over 100 million tons)
  • Magnetars are differentiated from other neutron stars by having even stronger magnetic fields, and by rotating more slowly in comparison. The active life of a magnetar is shor
  • Magnetars are relatively rare objects, with only about thirty having been spotted within the Milky Way so far.

https://epaper.thehindu.com/Home/ShareArticle?OrgId=GPL9B36QI.1&imageview=0