ESO: Magnetar Formation Mystery Solved?
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 5:54 pm
ESO: Magnetar Formation Mystery Solved?
A VLT/FLAMES survey for massive binaries in Westerlund 1. IV. Wd1-5 - binary product
and a pre-supernova companion for the magnetar CXOU J1647-45? - J. S. Clark et al
Magnetars are the bizarre super-dense remnants of supernova explosions. They are the strongest magnets known in the Universe — millions of times more powerful than the strongest magnets on Earth. A team of European astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) now believe they’ve found the partner star of a magnetar for the first time. This discovery helps to explain how magnetars form — a conundrum dating back 35 years — and why this particular star didn’t collapse into a black hole as astronomers would expect.
A VLT/FLAMES survey for massive binaries in Westerlund 1. IV. Wd1-5 - binary product
and a pre-supernova companion for the magnetar CXOU J1647-45? - J. S. Clark et al
- Astronomy and Astrophysics 565 A90 (May 2014) DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201321771
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1405.3109 > 13 May 2014