Posted on 07/15/2022 8:26:08 AM PDT by Red Badger
A pulsar with its jets and magnetic fields (NASA)
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Far out in the Milky Way, roughly 22,000 light years from Earth, a star unlike any other roars with a magnetic force that beats anything physicists have ever seen.
At a whopping 1.6 billion Tesla, a pulsar called Swift J0243.6+6124 smashes the previous records of around 1 billion Tesla, discovered surrounding the pulsars GRO J1008-57 and 1A 0535+262.
For a bit of context, your average novelty fridge magnet comes in at around 0.001 Tesla. The more powerful MRI machines manage to hit around 3 Tesla.
A few years ago, engineers earned a pat on the back for achieving a semi-respectable 1,200 Tesla, sustaining it for a blink of just 100 microseconds.
So it stands to reason that 1.6 billion Tesla is going to demand some truly mind-blowing physics. The kind only achievable by massive objects crammed into impossible volumes and spun at incredible speeds, fast enough to accelerate electrons to ridiculous velocities.
Swift J0243.6+6124 was already regarded as a star worth paying attention to. A type of super-compact cosmic heavyweight known as a pulsar, it's the only X-ray source in our galaxy to fall into the ultra-luminous category.
It's also the only example in the Milky Way of an X-ray pulsar with a Be-type companion star feeding it matter fast enough to generate radio-emitting jets of matter from its poles.
Those features alone add up to a unique opportunity in our galactic backyard astronomers can't help but study in detail.
Measuring the magnetic field of a far-distant object is easier said than done, though. As strong as they are, those fields quickly weaken to become undetectable over distances of thousands of light years.
Fortunately clues can be found in the way that the ultra-bright glow of X-rays scatters from the electrons whizzing down the magnetic racetrack, something known as a cyclotron resonance scattering feature.
China's launch of the X-ray observatory Insight-HXMT in 2017 provides astrophysicists with a way to capture signatures like these in distant emissions, leading to the measure of electron energies in the GRO J1008-57 field in 2020.
Fortunately, an outburst of activity in Swift J0243.6+6124 following Insight-HXMT's launch also provided a glimpse into its own high-strength magnetic field, with a cyclotron resonance scattering feature buried within its X-ray spectrum.
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Sun Yat-Sen University in China, and the University of Tübingen in Germany, subsequently analyzed the feature to calculate the energy of its electrons to peak at an astonishing 146 kiloelectron volts, blitzing the 90 and 100 kiloelectron volts of the previous record holders.
Given Swift J0243.6+6124 is the only ultra-luminescent X-ray pulsar in our galaxy, having a precise measure on its magnetic field gives astronomers a better idea of what might be happening close to its surface.
As a type of neutron star, pulsars like Swift J0243.6+6124 are made of atoms squished into configurations far beyond anything we can create on Earth. Its magnetic properties help exclude or support various models that explain how its highly compact crust behaves.
Specifically, the nature of the neutron star's magnetism confirms the likelihood that its field is complex, consisting of multiple poles.
That's a solid win for astrophysicists keen to understand the mysteries of some of the most exotic objects in space.
For the rest of us, it's enough just to try to imagine the might of a 1.6 billion Tesla magnet stuck to our fridge.
This research was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Ping!.....................
“Measuring the magnetic field of a far-distant object is easier said than done, though. As strong as they are, (those fields quickly weaken to become undetectable over distances of thousands of light years).
My memory of formulas is 60 years out of practice, but I think the magnetic force decreases as the distance squared.
True..........
.
And this affects the southern United States in what way??? Don’t really care how it affects the northern United States...
Meh. I doubt even the astronomers are all that excited about it. Just something to do that pays the bills after you find out your degree is worthless otherwise. Can’t win ‘em all.
For comparison - 1.5T MRI is the standard imaging method for most routine scans. In some cases, the increased magnet strength of a 3.0T scanner is necessary.
“My memory of formulas is 60 years out of practice, but I think the magnetic force decreases as the distance squared.”
That is only for the monopole point-source model.
That’s who’s stealing our gravity and magnetic field.
I say we nuke it from orbit, it’s the only...
5.56mm
Iron Man
Black Sabbath
[Intro]
I am Iron Man
[Verse 1]
Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all
Or, if he moves, will he fall?
[Verse 2]
Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?
We’ll just pass him there
Why should we even care?
[Instrumental Bridge]
[Verse 3]
He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
When he traveled time
For the future of mankind
[Chorus]
Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
That he will soon unfurl
[Instrumental Bridge]
[Verse 4]
Now the time is here
For Iron Man to spread fear
Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved
[Chorus]
Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 5]
Heavy boots of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Iron Man lives again
[Instrumental Outro]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s7_WbiR79E
Imho, Ozzie and Keith should donate their bodies to science.
When they leave the planet of course.
5.56mm
Don’t need any more gravity. I’ve got plenty enough, thanks.
Any bets as to who goes first?...............
A Tesla?
I don’t understand the attraction.
No.
They both defy human physiology.
5.56mm
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