Illustration of a magnetar. Magnetars are the most intensely magnetised objects in the Universe. Their magnetic fields are some 10 000 million times stronger than Earth’s. If a magnetar were to magically appear at half the Moon’s distance from Earth, its magnetic field would wipe the details off every credit card on Earth.
Below: XMM-Newton observations of the magnetar SGR 0501+4516.
Credits: Magnetar Illustration: NASA, SGR0501+4516 burst data (below): ESA/XMM-Newton (Rea et al. 2009)
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