Exploring Beyond the ‘Death Line’: Discovery of an Ultra-Bright Object
Scientists have made a perplexing discovery of an incredibly luminous celestial entity that continues to emit intense light despite its demise. Situated a staggering 15,000 light-years from our planet, this enigmatic object is believed to be a fragment of a colossal star, commonly referred to as a magnetar, that has been shattered into pieces.
According to a Live Science report. it’s as small as a city and yet a stellar object can have a huge amount of mass, similar to the Sun. Its magnetic field is over a quadrillion times stronger than Earth’s.
About the star object
A rotating magnetar can rotate and produce radio waves in unknown patterns, often repeating every few seconds or minutes, as well as emit very bright jets of electromagnetic radiation. A popular theory is that a magnetar of this size does not produce high radio waves as its rotation slows down. However, Natasha Hurley-Walker, a radio astronomer at Australia’s International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and lead author of the new study, says: “The object found rotates too slowly to produce radio waves – it is below the death threshold,” and has done so for more than 30 years.
This discovery may contradict several theories and models based on the magnetar. According to Live Science, the researchers also examined archives dating back to 1988 and compared magnetar theories with half a dozen other radio telescopes around the world. In the oldest data, they noticed the same object, which had been pulsing at roughly the same 22-minute intervals for 33 years.
According to a study published in the journal Nature, scientists say it may not be a magnetar, it may be a white dwarf (a type of stellar remnant). Although the stellar object is also 1000 times brighter than a white dwarf. As a result, no conclusion about the ultra bright object found.
What is Magnetar?
Magnetars are not powered by traditional mechanisms such as nuclear fusion or rotation, NASA reveals. They represent a new way for the star to shine. The magnetic fields of magnetars are a thousand times stronger than those of ordinary neutron stars.
