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Magnetars

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Magnetospheres of stars: from brown dwarfs to compact objects.

Gamma Ray Bursts 2 Earth

Magnetars (star like objects that have unusally strong magnetic fields) It is thought neutron stars with the correct mass may change into quark stars and then finally into Magnetars.

Magnetars (star like objects that have unusally strong magnetic fields)

Quarks however come in three different flavors. If one particular one dominates a thing called “color ferromagnetism” might occur and this what causes the powerful magnetic fields of a Magnetar. Magnetars are quite interesting on their own. They have all sorts of exotic properties. In Dec 27, 2004 a gamma ray blast from one of these babies was strong enough to send gamma ray detectors off the charts and change the earths upper atmosphere: Because a magnetar has a extremely strong magnetic field, they are also thought to have a thing called an electron cloud that flows around the magnetar (star): Magnetar electron cloud Magnetars (star like objects that have unusually strong magnetic fields): Like this: Like Loading... Electron clouds around star. Want to stay on top of all the space news?

Electron clouds around star

Follow @universetoday on Twitter Artists impression of a magnetar. Credits: © 2008 Sky & Telescope: Gregg Dinderman Neutron stars are leftovers of massive stars (10-50 times as massive as our Sun) that have collapsed under their own weight. Most are only about 20 km in diameter, but they are so compact that a teaspoon of neutron star stuff would weigh about one hundred million tons.

So far, about 15 magnetars have been found. Magnetars are different from ‘ordinary’ neutron stars because their internal magnetic field is thought to be strong enough to twist the stellar crust. Space Today Online - Deep Space - Magnetars. Scientists propose new composition of neutron stars. Chandra Podcast: The Exotic World of Neutron Stars. Cosmic Explosion Among the Brightest in Recorded History.

Cosmic Explosion Among the Brightest in Recorded History Scientists have detected a flash of light from across the Galaxy so powerful that it bounced off the Moon and lit up the Earth's upper atmosphere.

Cosmic Explosion Among the Brightest in Recorded History

The flash was brighter than anything ever detected from beyond our Solar System and lasted over a tenth of a second. NASA and European satellites and many radio telescopes detected the flash and its aftermath on December 27, 2004. Two science teams report about this event at a special press event today at NASA headquarters. A multitude of papers are planned for publication. Image/animation above: Image 1: Artist conception of the December 27, 2004 gamma ray flare expanding from SGR 1806-20 and impacting Earth’s atmosphere. The scientists said the light came from a "giant flare" on the surface of an exotic neutron star, called a magnetar. Image/animation above: Image 2: An artist conception of the SGR 1806-20 magnetar including magnetic field lines. Dr. High Resolution Images: Gamma-ray Burst Effects on the Ionosphere. Cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are bursts of energetic gamma radiation produced by the violent explosions of distant stars.

Gamma-ray Burst Effects on the Ionosphere

There is a huge amount of interesting astrophysics involved that is far beyond the scope of this document. From the perspective of the VLF group at Stanford, GRBs are interesting because of their effects on the Earth's atmosphere and the near-Earth space environment. The burst of gamma-rays from a GRB interacts with the upper atmosphere and lower ionosphere, depositing its energy and ionizing atoms and molecules. This ionization is in addition to natural ionization due to ultraviolet light from the sun and cosmic rays and acts to change the conductivity of the upper atmosphere. The change in conductivity is visible as a change in the way VLF radio waves reflect from the ionosphere and thus can be detected by monitoring transmitted VLF signals from long distances. Acknowledgement Bibliography Inan, U., N. Ejzak et al., Consequences of Variability in Photon Events. The Astrophysical Journal, 654:373-384, 2007 January 1 © 2007.

Ejzak et al., Consequences of Variability in Photon Events

The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. Terrestrial Consequences of Spectral and Temporal Variability in Ionizing Photon Events Larissa M. Received 2006 April 25; accepted 2006 September 7 Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) directed at Earth from within a few kiloparsecs may have damaged the biosphere, primarily through changes in atmospheric chemistry that admit greatly increased solar UV. 0.1 s) burst GRBs, which have harder spectra, may be sufficiently abundant at low redshift that they may offer an additional significant effect. 103 s) and UV ( Weiwei_magnetars. A Brief History of High-Energy Astronomy: 1975 - 1979.