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For years, astronomers have seen immensely powerful and mysterious blasts of radio energy pouring in from across the Universe. Now, finally, they've IDed a source.
Difficulty: The call is from a monster, and it's coming from inside the galaxy. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/breakthrough-mysterious-radio-signal-traced-to-a-galactic-minimonster
Difficulty: The call is from a monster, and it's coming from inside the galaxy. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/breakthrough-mysterious-radio-signal-traced-to-a-galactic-minimonster
2/ They're called Fast Radio Bursts. Only a *millisecond* long, for that brief moment they can be 100 MILLION TIMES brighter than the Sun.
In April, one was finally pinned down inside the Milky Way.
And this is where my hair stood on end.
It came from a magnetar.
In April, one was finally pinned down inside the Milky Way.
And this is where my hair stood on end.
It came from a magnetar.
3/ Sooooo.
People ask me what the scariest objects in space are, thinking I’ll say asteroids or black holes.
Nuh uh. It’s magnetars, and *it’s not even close*.
People ask me what the scariest objects in space are, thinking I’ll say asteroids or black holes.
Nuh uh. It’s magnetars, and *it’s not even close*.
4/ These are superdense neutron stars with magnetic fields so powerful adjectives fail. They can be a QUADRILLION times stronger than Earth's magnetic field.
That's… a lot.
A field that strong contains immense amounts of energy. If something happens to let it go, well, oof.
That's… a lot.
A field that strong contains immense amounts of energy. If something happens to let it go, well, oof.
5/ In 2004, a magnetar eruption in our galaxy blinded satellites, compressed Earth's magnetic field, and *partially ionized our upper atmopshere*.
That magnetar was 50,000 light years away. Halfway across the galaxy. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/anniversary-of-a-cosmic-blast
That magnetar was 50,000 light years away. Halfway across the galaxy. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/anniversary-of-a-cosmic-blast
6/ So yeah, black holes schmack holes. The real galactic terror are magnetars.
Now, not every eruption is so soul-vaporizingly powerful. Sometimes it's merely brain-hurtingly big. Something shakes up the magnetic field which pops out a brief but very strong radio flash.
Now, not every eruption is so soul-vaporizingly powerful. Sometimes it's merely brain-hurtingly big. Something shakes up the magnetic field which pops out a brief but very strong radio flash.
7/ In this case it was 100,000 times brighter in radio than the Sun for a millisecond. Even from 30,000 light years away it was enough to trigger radio observatories and even an X-ray satellite or two. That allowed astronomers to nail down the source: the magnetar SGR 1935+2154.
