Inbox Astronomy: NASA's Hubble Tracks a Roaming Magnetar of Unknown Origin

INBOX ASTRONOMY

NASA's Hubble Tracks a Roaming Magnetar of Unknown Origin

Release date: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 8:00:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Highly magnetic neutron star is wandering our Milky Way galaxy.

Researchers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered the magnetar called SGR 0501+4516 is traversing our galaxy from an unknown place of origin. Researchers say that this runaway object is the likeliest candidate in our Milky Way galaxy for a magnetar that was not born in a supernova explosion as initially predicted. Only about 30 magnetars have been discovered so far. A magnetar is a neutron star with a magnetic field about a trillion times more powerful than Earth’s magnetosphere. If a magnetar were only half the Moon’s distance, its intense field would wipe out the magnetic strip of every credit card on our planet. If a human got within 600 miles of a magnetar it would rip apart every atom inside the body.

  Read more  

Find additional articles, images, and videos at www.stsci.edu

  Please do not reply to this message.
You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to the Inbox Astronomy mailing list.

 

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute's Office of Public Outreach