A team of astronomers identified an X-ray flash from the side of a galaxy about 6.5 billion light years away that is consistent with the merging of two neutron stars with the formation of a magnetar, a large neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field. Based on these observations, the researchers were able to calculate that such collisions occur with a frequency of about 20 times a year in each area of space with a volume of one cubic billion light years.
This research team, including Bret Lemer (Bret Lehmer), Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Arkansas, USA, analyzed data collected using the NASA Chandra X-ray Space Observatory (Chandra).
The neutron star is a small, very dense burnt star, the average diameter of which is only a few tens of kilometers. Neutron stars form during the collapse of a massive star that flares up like a supernova, but does not turn into a black hole. When two neutron stars are combined into a magnetar, the resulting magnetic field turns out to be 10 trillion times more powerful than the field of an ordinary kitchen magnet.
In the previous discovery, the fusion events of two neutron stars used observations in gravitational waves and the gamma range, which allowed astronomers to obtain new valuable information about these objects. In the new study, Lehmer’s team used this information to detect structures in X-ray data collected using Chandra, which were consistent with the new information on the merging neutron stars.
Scientists observe the formation of a magnetar at a distance of 6.5 billion light years from Earth
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