Science. It works, bitches.
Astronomers have discovered a vast cloud of high-energy particles called a wind nebula around a rare ultra-magnetic neutron star, or magnetar, for the first time. The find offers a unique window into the properties, environment and outburst history of magnetars, which are the strongest magnets in the universe.
The newfound nebula surrounds a magnetar known as Swift J1834.9-0846 — J1834.9 for short — which was discovered by NASA’s Swift satellite on 7 August 2011, during a brief X-ray outburst. Astronomers suspect the object is associated with the W41 supernova remnant, located about 13,000 light-years away in the constellation Scutum toward the central part of our galaxy.
“Right now, we don’t know how J1834.9 developed and continues to maintain a wind nebula, which until now was a structure only seen around young pulsars,” said lead researcher George Younes, a postdoctoral researcher at George Washington University in Washington. “If the process here is similar, then about 10 percent of the magnetar’s rotational energy loss is powering the nebula’s glow, which would be the highest efficiency ever measured in such a system.”
“For me the most interesting question is, why is this the only magnetar with a nebula? Once we know the answer, we might be able to understand what makes a magnetar and what makes an ordinary pulsar,” said co-author Chryssa Kouveliotou, a professor in the Department of Physics at George Washington University’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.
astronomynow.com/2016/06/22/first-wind-nebula-f...
Астрономы впервые обнаружили обширное облако высокоэнергетических частиц, называемое туманностью пульсарного ветра, вокруг редкого типа нейтронной звезды с чрезвычайно мощным магнитным полем, или магнетара. Эти находки дают уникальную возможность понять свойства этого «самого мощного магнита» Вселенной, условия в его космических окрестностях и историю происходящих на нем вспышек.
Эта вновь обнаруженная туманность окружает магнетар, известный как Swift J1834.9-0846.
www.astronews.ru/cgi-bin/mng.cgi?page=news&news...
The newfound nebula surrounds a magnetar known as Swift J1834.9-0846 — J1834.9 for short — which was discovered by NASA’s Swift satellite on 7 August 2011, during a brief X-ray outburst. Astronomers suspect the object is associated with the W41 supernova remnant, located about 13,000 light-years away in the constellation Scutum toward the central part of our galaxy.
“Right now, we don’t know how J1834.9 developed and continues to maintain a wind nebula, which until now was a structure only seen around young pulsars,” said lead researcher George Younes, a postdoctoral researcher at George Washington University in Washington. “If the process here is similar, then about 10 percent of the magnetar’s rotational energy loss is powering the nebula’s glow, which would be the highest efficiency ever measured in such a system.”
“For me the most interesting question is, why is this the only magnetar with a nebula? Once we know the answer, we might be able to understand what makes a magnetar and what makes an ordinary pulsar,” said co-author Chryssa Kouveliotou, a professor in the Department of Physics at George Washington University’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.
astronomynow.com/2016/06/22/first-wind-nebula-f...
Астрономы впервые обнаружили обширное облако высокоэнергетических частиц, называемое туманностью пульсарного ветра, вокруг редкого типа нейтронной звезды с чрезвычайно мощным магнитным полем, или магнетара. Эти находки дают уникальную возможность понять свойства этого «самого мощного магнита» Вселенной, условия в его космических окрестностях и историю происходящих на нем вспышек.
Эта вновь обнаруженная туманность окружает магнетар, известный как Swift J1834.9-0846.
www.astronews.ru/cgi-bin/mng.cgi?page=news&news...