This week, astronomers picked up strange X-ray bursts using NASA’s Swift telescope. These strange bursts were very similar to that of a magnetar — an extremely dense type of neutron star that can produce magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than our sun’s. The magnetar, called 1E 1613 — at the centre of RCW 103, and the remains of a supernova explosion located about 9,000 light years from Earth — rotates once every 24,000 seconds (6.67 hours).
Neutron stars are formed when stars more massive than our sun explode as supernovae. Just a regular neutron star has a magnetic field of a trillion gauss. Magnetars are 1,000 times more powerful than that, with a magnetic field of a quadrillion gauss. The earth’s core has a magnetic field of 25 gauss. Magnetars can cause starquakes, or earthquakes on stars. Because of its properties, the magnetar releases a blast of radiation that can be seen clear across the Milky Way. The most powerful starquake ever recorded came from a magnetar called SGR 1806-20, located about 50,000 light years away. In a tenth of a second, one of these starquakes released more energy than the sun gives off in 1,00,000 years.