Astronomers have observed for the first time the birth of one of the universe's most extreme objects - a magnetar containing the mass of 500,000 Earths within a sphere just 12 miles wide.
Magnetars are a type of neutron star, extremely dense objects composed primarily of tightly packed neutrons, that form from the core of a massive star after its collapse during a supernova.
What sets magnetars apart from other neutron stars is that they have the strongest magnetic fields known in the universe. For context, Earth's magnetic field has a value of about one Gauss, while a refrigerator magnet measures about 100 Gauss. Magnetars, on the other hand, have magnetic fields that reach about a million billion Gauss.
Scientists observed a superluminous supernova called SN 2024afav for more than 200 days. Normally, the light of a supernova fades after it reaches maximum brightness, but SN 2024afav pulsated as it faded, producing small pulses of light.
They theorized that the star's debris had formed a rotating disk of gas after falling back into the magnetar, and the disk's axis of rotation was tilted as a result of general relativity, according to their study published in Nature.
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, the pulsating light was the result of a massive object rotating and "scraping" the space-time around itself - that is, a magnetar.
Scientists believe the data proves they have observed the formation of a magnetar as the core of a superluminous supernova collapsed in on itself.
Alex Filippenko, a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley and co-author of the study, called this "definitive evidence" of the existence of a magnetar.
He told The Times: "Seeing a clear effect of Einstein's general theory of relativity is always exciting, but seeing it for the first time in a supernova is particularly rewarding."
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