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Friday, March 29, 2024

Astronomers say fast radio burst detected in the Milky Way produced by highly magnetized star

Credit: Reuters - 3D Animations (Next Me
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Astronomers say fast radio burst detected in the Milky Way produced by highly magnetized star
Astronomers say fast radio burst detected in the Milky Way produced by highly magnetized star

The first fast radio burst to be discovered in the Milky Way has been traced back to a magnetar known as SGR 1935+2154 located 32,616 light-years away from Earth, astronomers researching the phenomena told Nature magazine.

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RESTRICTIONS: Broadcast: NO USE JAPAN, NO USE TAIWAN Digital: NO USE JAPAN, NO USE TAIWAN The first fast radio burst to be discovered in the Milky Way has been traced back to a magnetar known as SGR 1935+2154 located 32,616 light-years away from Earth, astronomers researching the phenomena told Nature magazine.

The burst was detected by satellites including NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and radio telescopes operated by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME, and by the Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2, or STARE2, in the U.S. Fast radio bursts are brief but cataclysmic high-energy blasts that flare for just milliseconds but release as much energy as our Sun generates in 80 years, according to previous findings published in Nature.

A magnetar is a kind of highly magnetized neutron star, the compressed core of a star that exploded in a supernova and collapsed in on itself.

RUNDOWN SHOWS: 1.

Visualization of a fast radio burst 2.

Depiction of a neutron star inside a nebula 3.

Shock wave created by a magnetar which powers a fast radio burst 4.

A magnetar and its magnetic field 5.

Magnetar releases a flare of energy in a starquake VOICEOVER (in English): "The first fast radio burst to be discovered in the Milky Way has been traced back to a magnetar known as SGR 1935+2154 located 32,616 light-years away from Earth, astronomers researching the phenomena told Nature magazine." "The burst was detected by satellites including NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and radio telescopes operated by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME, and by the Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2, or STARE2, in the U.S." "Fast radio bursts are brief but cataclysmic high-energy blasts that flare for just milliseconds but release as much energy as our Sun generates in 80 years, according to previous findings published in Nature." "A magnetar is described in the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics as a kind of highly magnetized neutron star, the compressed core of a star that exploded in a supernova and collapsed in on itself." "According to NASA, a magnetar is roughly 20 kilometers in diameter and is so dense that a single tablespoon of its mass could weigh 1 billion tons.

It rotates faster than ordinary neutron stars, once in less than one second." "Magnetars are surrounded by intense magnetic fields.

Citing University of Toronto astronomer and CHIME member Paul Scholz, Nature magazine explains that because they spin so quickly, magnetars build up huge reservoirs of energy that could produce powerful cosmic blasts." "According to one theory, magnetars might be able to power fast radio bursts by releasing flares of energy in a starquake caused by the huge stresses exerted on the magnetar as its magnetic fields twist and snap back in place." SOURCES: Quanta Magazine, Science, Nature, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Green Bank Observatory https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-surprise-discovery-shows-magnetars-create-fast-radio-bursts-20200611/ https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6496/1171.summary https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bizarre-nearby-star-offers-clues-to-origins-of-mysterious-fast-radio-bursts/ https://phys.org/news/2018-10-aussie-telescope-mysterious-fast-radio.html https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-astro-081915-023329 https://greenbankobservatory.org/most-massive-neutron-star-ever-detected/ *** For story suggestions please contact tips@nextanimation.com.tw For technical and editorial support, please contact: Asia: +61 2 93 73 1841 Europe: +44 20 7542 7599 Americas and Latam: +1 800 738 8377

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