Only 31 Magnetars have already been discovered. This one is Extra Strange. It is also a pulsar



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Some of the most incredibly powerful objects in the sky aren’t necessarily the prettiest to look at. But their secrets may allow humanity to glimpse some of the universe’s most intricate details that are on display in their extreme surroundings. Whenever we find one of these unique objects, it’s cause for celebration, and recently astronomers have found an extremely unique object that is both a magnetar and a pulsar, making it one of the Only 5 never found.

The object, called J1818.0-1607, was first detected in March by NASA’s Neil Gehreis Swift telescope. It was initially classified simply as a magnetar – one of only 31 ever found. Magnetars are a type of neutron star that has the strongest magnetic field ever detected – millions of billions of times stronger than that of Earth. But J1818.0-1607 was not the same as other magnetars found so far.

He appeared to be the youngest, with an estimated age of 500. As a result, it also spins faster than any other magnetar observed. Younger magnetars will spin faster than older ones, which have had the chance to slow some down. J1818.0-1607 takes the cake with a blistering spin speed of 1.4 seconds.

Finding a unique magnetar like this will always attract other astronomers, and some have made other types of telescopes to wear. One of those telescopes was the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which a team led by researchers from the University of West Virginia and the University of Manitoba commissioned to examine the newly discovered magnetar within a month. after its initial discovery.

Image showing the Magnetar / Pulsar in several spectra.
Multispectral image of Swift from J1818.0-1607, the youngest pulsar and magnetar ever observed.
Credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / P Esposito et al.

Chandra is able to see in the X-ray spectrum, so he was able to calculate the efficiency with which the object translated its decreasing spin energy into X-rays. This efficiency was in line with another type of object, known as the name of rotating pulsar.

Pulsars are a type of neutron star that repeatedly emits radiation as they rotate. Observations from other telescopes, including the Very Large Array, have provided supporting data for the magnetar to be a pulsar as well. This puts it on a very short list of just 5 never-discovered objects that combine the characteristics of both types of objects.

However, all the mysteries of the newly discovered object are not yet solved. One is where all the debris is gone. All neutron stars are formed as a result of a supernova, and J1818.0-1607 is no exception. However, at such a young age, astronomers would expect to see the debris field from the explosion. Chandra picked up some, however, it is much further away than expected, implying that J1818.0-1607 is either much older than previously thought, or it exploded with such force that it detonated the debris field much faster than other known neutron stars.

Either hypothesis is viable and, of course, more data will need to be collected to really solve this mystery. But the discovery of J1818.0-1607 and its subsequent observation is a prime example of the kind of science that is possible when multiple instruments operating in multiple spectra are implemented on a single object of interest. Hopefully, this coordination will lead to more discoveries of these ultra rare combinations of magnetically powerful headlights.

Learn more:
NASA: Chandra studies the extraordinary magnetar
NASA: Cosmic baby is discovered and its shining
Sci-News: Astronomers Discover Youngest Magnetar Ever
UT: Brand New Magnetar Found, Only 240 Years Old

Main image: Composite image of J1818.0-1607 in X-ray and infrared.
Credit: NASA / CXC / U West Virginia / H. Blumer / JPL-CalTech / Spitzer

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