Astronomers at Pennsylvania State University have detected and continue to record frequent and highly energetic x-ray and gamma ray blasts from a neutron star 30,000 light years away.Using NASA's Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, astronomers have been tracking the known x-ray source cataloged as SGR J1550-5418 for more than two years. Last October, the object began a series of modest eruptions before settling down, only to roar back to life on January 22nd with even greater intensity. More than a hundred flares were detected in a space of only 20 minutes, with each flare emitting more energy than the Sun does in 20 years.
Neutron stars are collapsed stars containing the mass of the Sun compacted into a superdense sphere only about 12 miles in diameter. This object is a neutron star known as a magnetar, a subgroup known to have intense magnetic fields 1000 times stronger than normal, the strongest known magnetic fields in the universe. Because of its recent gamma-ray activity, this object is also classified as a soft-gamma-ray repeater, only the sixth such object known.
SGR J1550-5418 is spinning at a rate of one revolution every 2.07 seconds, making it the fastest-spinning magnetar yet found. In 2004, an intense burst from another soft-gamma-ray repeater had a measurable effect on Earth's upper atmosphere from 50,000 light years away.
These results were released on February 10th by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Source: ScienceDaily
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