The Most Terrifying Phenomenon in the Universe Emerges
A Terrifying Phenomenon in the Universe
Scientists have recently observed a horrifying phenomenon in the cosmos, where a neutron star emitted an incredibly powerful burst of fire, tearing through space itself.
According to Dr. Alberto J. Castro-Tirado from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain, the lead author of the study, this neutron star weighs approximately 2.3 times the mass of the Sun but has an incredibly small diameter of only about 20 kilometers.
This neutron star is believed to be a magnetar, the strongest form of neutron stars, surpassing regular neutron stars by a factor of 1,000 and Earth’s magnetic field by a staggering 4 million times.
The intense burst of fire it emitted was luckily detected in the Silver Coin galaxy (NGC 253), located 13 million light-years away from us.
Neutron stars are considered the end products of the “death” of a star, operating in a “zombie” state and possessing a ferocity that rivals the undead in movies.
It possesses an extremely violent magnetic field, capable of wreaking havoc on everything in its vicinity. The event, named GRB 2001415, was recorded by an instrument on the International Space Station (ISS).
Following the event, the research team employed artificial intelligence (AI) to accurately measure the brightness fluctuations caused by the magnetic field eruption in order to gain a better understanding of it.
This is the most catastrophic explosion of a magnetar ever recorded in astronomical history, prompting scientists to refer to it as a “truly cosmic monster.”
Neutron stars represent one of the possible outcomes in the stellar evolutionary process. A neutron star is formed from the remnants of a massive star’s collapse after supernovae events of Type II, Ib, or Ic.
A neutron star can have a mass ranging from at least 1.1 to 3 times the mass of the Sun. The largest observed mass of a neutron star is 2.01 times that of the Sun.
After such a supernova explosion, the core of these stars contracts into an extremely dense object with a mass equal to that of the Sun compressed into a city-sized sphere.
The characteristics of neutron stars are otherworldly—a teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh billions of tons. If, by some means, you were to stand on their surface without perishing, you would experience a gravitational force 2 billion times greater than what you feel on Earth.
The magnetic field of a typical neutron star can be thousands of billions of times stronger than Earth’s magnetic field. However, some neutron stars possess even more monstrous magnetic fields, exceeding an average neutron star’s field by a thousandfold. This gives rise to an entity known as a magnetar.
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