Like fine art created at the hands of some of the greatest artists through the centuries, the vastness of space has a few of its own antiquities. The particular item I鈥檓 speaking of today is a Magnetar.
This is the most magnetic object in the known universe. It鈥檚 the Rembrandt, or equvelant artis, of our day speaking. There鈥檚 so few we know about (25) they are not only very, very rare, they are the ultimate creation of another object we see quite frequently. It derives firstly from a star that has undergone a supernova, then becomes whats known as a neutron star, which as collapsed upon itself so forcefully a star 1,000,000 times the mass of our sun, is now only 25 k/m in diameter. All the atoms, protons and electrons, are forced to share the same space, becoming neutrons. If the sequence follows a very particular and misunderstood process, a neutron star becomes a pulsar. Finally the last, rarest and most curious step that can happen, is for a pulsar to become a magnetar. A neutron star that now is half its original diameter, 12 k/m but has the strongest magnetic field in the known universe. If you were to be wishing 600-1000 light years of one your body would be pulled apart at the subatomic molecular level. The physics behind this are barely understood and are a prime example of not only how much we have to learn, but how lucky we are to actually be here. These super dense objects can eject gamma rays that are so powerful and so violent, we have recorded actual gamma rays hitting Earth that ionized part of our atmosphere and actually damaged satellites from one that released a violent eruption from halfway across the Milky Way. Not solar system, our galaxy, The Milky Way. The event released energy in under a second that it will take our sun to emit over the next 250,000 years. Not to mention, going the speed of light, it would take you about, mmm, somewhere in the neighborhood of 120,000 years to cross. The speed of light is 182K and change MILES PER SECOND. So we talking something that is 60K light years away from us still showed it could reach out and touch us! It鈥檚 amazing, beautiful, mind twisting and frightening to think about items like this. This is just one of the facinating objects we have found in the known universe. Items like this, as well as black holes I guess are more the artist than artwork, becuase their actions literally are part of what shaped, mold, destroy and create whats around us. I just hope we do not exactly become center canvas. If you would like more reading on this subject check this Link out:
