Hello everybody!
In the usual human understanding, the larger the object, the more massive it is. In the case of Magnetars, or Magnetars, everything is exactly the opposite.
Magnetars (Let's call it as usual, from the word "magnet") are one of the rarest classes of neutron stars. What is so dangerous and mysterious about them? Let's find out with Pertichor V!
A powerful flash - the one that helped open Magnitara
The existence of such objects was assumed back in 1992, but in 1998, real evidence of the existence of objects, later called Magnitars, was obtained.
This was facilitated by the outbreak, the observation of which showed the presence of a powerful burst of X-ray and gamma radiation. It came from a source in the constellation Eagle - SGR 1900 + 14 - the very first Magnitara discovered in history.
Magnetar SGR 1900 + 14 - Image taken by the Spitzer telescope
Magnetars - well, very strange neutron stars
I would like to remind you that according to scientific observations, the average life cycle of stars lasts from 10 million to 10 billion years (Source: infoanic)
Magnetars live on the strength of 1 million years.
What was said in the title of the article: the mass of Magnetars often exceeds that of the Sun, but the size does not. Not a word at all - magnetars are a maximum of 30 kilometers in diameter. Let me remind you that the average person will walk this distance in 2-2.5 hours. Not on a magnet, of course - it won't be able to move there.
Something surprising: a small handful of Magnetara will weigh 100 million tons. (Source - wikidata)
Why are Magnetars so dangerous?
Magnetars are called Neutron stars, which have an extremely powerful magnetic field, along with which Magnetar has one more, the same destructive feature: gamma and X-rays emanating from it during flares.
Fun fact: Magnetars have the strongest magnetic field in the universe.
So, the flares of Magnetar last only some 0.001-0.01 seconds, and energy for such a negligible period of time is generated in the same amount that our Sun produces for a whole year.
Why are Magnetars so little studied? The answer is simple - there are no such objects near the solar system. It is for the better - life in such conditions would not have been able to exist - would have been completely destroyed by the very first such outbreak.
Where are Magnitars located? How did they come about?
The closest to us Magnetar is at a distance of 9000 light years - it would be much closer - the Earth in "our understanding" would no longer exist. Thus, such objects literally sterilize the vast space around them - not only killing all life on nearby planets with their radiation, but also destroying the ozone layers on more distant objects, dooming their possible inhabitants to irreversible death.
Currently, there are approximately 35 magnetars in the visible universe by scientists. It was also found that Magnetars are objects that are too compressed, as mentioned earlier - a handful of their substance will weigh 100 million tons. It is assumed that these objects are born as a result of anomalies when a neutron star "appears" - due to its speed, for example.
Yes ... I wonder why such "monsters" were "created"? What do you think - can they be of any practical benefit for space? Or are they just anomalies, errors that shouldn't exist at all; and their appearance - an accident?