Astronomers pinpoint origin of the most powerful magnetic bursts
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Science Centric | 22 September 2007 13:39 GMT
University of Arizona astronomers have pinpointed the origin of powerful bursts from nature's most magnetic objects. The bursts are from 'magnetars,' some of the most enigmatic objects in the universe. Magnetars are a type of neutron star, which are superdense stars that pack the mass of a sun into a body the size of Manhattan Island. Tiny magnetars possess magnetic fields that are at least 100 trillion times as powerful as Earth's magnetic field. They occasionally produce powerful bursts, hurling high-energy radiation cascading across space. The origin of these energetic eruptions and the strong magnetic fields is a mystery.
If you fell off a chair 1 meter high on a neutron star, you'd hit the surface at 4.3 million mph. Splat!
And if you built a rocket to fly off of a neutron star, it would need an escape velocity 1/3rd the speed of light.
Cool stuff!
Of course, this is all hypothetical. Life on a neutron star would be very, very brief.
Thanks!