NASA Might have New Spotted the Slowest Spinning Magnetar Ever
Astronomers working with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have discover evidence of an extremely dense, magnetised neutron star - or magnetar - at the centre of RCW 103, a dense cloud of dust gone over from a supernova lying roughly 10,700 light-years away.
While the finding of a magnetar is always awesome, the latest evidence indicates that the star might rotate thousands of times slower than other magnetars, creation it an incredibly unique find.Astronomers were 1st drawn to the star, known as 1E 161348-5055 (or 1E 1613 for short), in June 2016. A team of researchers led by Antonino D'Aì, from Italy's National organization of Astrophysics (INAF), picked up strange X-ray bursts pending from RCW 103 using NASA’s Swift telescope.
These strange bursts were extremely similar to that of a magnetar - an very dense type of neutron star that can make magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than our Sun’s.While the finding of a magnetar is always awesome, the latest evidence indicates that the star might rotate thousands of times slower than other magnetars, creation it an incredibly unique find.Astronomers were 1st drawn to the star, known as 1E 161348-5055 (or 1E 1613 for short), in June 2016. A team of researchers led by Antonino D'Aì, from Italy's National organization of Astrophysics (INAF), picked up strange X-ray bursts pending from RCW 103 using NASA’s Swift telescope.
"Observers had before agreed that 1E 1613 is a neutron star, an extremely dense star shaped by the supernova that produced RCW 103," NASA officials said. "However, the usual variation in the X-ray brightness of the source, with a stage of about six and a half hours, presented a puzzle."
This finding prompted another group of researchers, led by astronomer Nanda Rea from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, to examine further using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) - two space telescopes that can scan sure regions of space in hunt of specific bands of X-ray radiation.
Here's the compound image they twisted with the data:Based on their data, which included the relative amount of X-rays shaped by the star and how it cooled down after the before mentioned bursts, the group has concluded that 1E 1613 is likely a magnetar.
If their findings hold up after extra scrutiny, this would make 1E 1613 the 30th magnetar ever found.The researchers still have a vagueness on their hands, though, because D'Aì’s team also discover that 1E 1613 - despite exhibiting many tell-tale signs of a magnetar - spins really, actually slowly, which doesn’t line up with before accepted magnetar characteristics.
"The basis is rotating once every 24,000 seconds (6.67 hours), much slower than the slowest magnetars known until now, which spin about once every 10 seconds. This would make it the slowest rotating neutron star ever detect," NASA officials said.
Correct now, no one is sure what's causing the slow spin, though one of the most popular hypotheses is that debris from the supernova that created RCW 103 might have fallen into 1E 1613, creation it slow down.
Usually, magnetars are thought to slow down as they age, but 1E 1613 is estimated to be only 2,000 years old - a mere newborn by astronomical values - so that hypothesis, the team says, doesn’t apply here.
It will take further study to get to the bottom of what's causing 1E 1613 to act so strangely compared to other magnetars. But the detection of another magnetar on its own is enough to get excited about, because they are ludicrously rare and hard to spot.
Hopefully, with telescopes civilizing rapidly, we will one day appreciate more about 1E 1613 and other stars like it. Until then, at least we have a latest awesome picture to hold us over.
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