Canadian Astronomers Discover a Magnetar

trotski writes "The Globe and Mail is running an article about the discovery of a magnetar star by Canadian astronomers. The star, named SGR 1806-20, is located 40,000 light-years from earth. This neutron star is one of only four magnetars ever discovered. Magnetars are characterized by their huge magnetic fields, billions of times stronger than any magnets on Earth. Apparently, if this star was located as far away as the moon, it could demag floppy disks and suck change right out of your pocket."

Plus,

[Bobulusman]

Having a star as close as the moon would probably be pretty warm, too.

Suck Change?

[Trusty Penfold]

Wow, imagine what it could do if coins were actually ferrous!

Re:Plus,

[p4ul13]

Damn you for beating me to the punch on that comment.

The article doesn't explain how they go about detecting such a star (bring a compass into space and see where it points??), but I found the last line amusing:

"This neutron star could be as small as Winnipeg, but with a temperature several million times warmer," Prof. Safi-Harb said.

A star that is much warmer than Winnipeg; Imagine that!

YARIGISWPT

[MarkusQ]

if this star was located as far away as the moon, it could demag floppy disks

Yet another reason I'm glad I stayed with paper tape.

-- MarkusQ

Democratic Star

[bill_mcgonigle]

Maybe the star is Democratic, not magnetic. A Demostar. Then it could suck the change out of your pocket.

Magnetar...

[Dannon]

Please tell me I'm not the only one here who thinks this sounds like a villain out of an 80's cartoon. Maybe Space Ghost, or Transformers.

then IRS is a star?...

[peu]

and suck change right out of your pocket.

IRS does the same, but it's a little bit closer

Soundgarden

[infonography]

I wonder how hard it would be to move it into earth orbit and get Soundgarden to get back togeather for one song - "Blackhole Sun" with a real blackhole in the background. Just like the video.

Sure it would be the end of history but it would be the biggest thing in Rock and Roll history. I think it's worth it.

Disaster Area!

[ThinkingGuy]

A concert at the end of the Universe? Wouldn't Disaster Area [geocities.com] be a more appropriate act?

Re:Democratic Star

[ENOENT]

That's right. A Republican star, of course, would not suck change out of your pocket because Republicans don't believe in change. :-)

I found it!

[Cervantes]

Hmmm... several million times warmer than Winnipeg... ok, so a median of 20C, check... sucks change out of your pocket... check.... erases data from great distances... check.

Ladies and gentleman, I have located the 5th Magnetar... the good ole US of A!

--
Laugh while you still have the right..

Yo' da' man

[Anonymous Coward]

I ain't a physicist either an' ah don't spell too good but as I
recollect from here an there [maybe it was Babylon V],
a neutron dense substance is impervious to a magnetic
fields.
.
In order to permeate a region filled with a given mass, it
is necessary for the magnetic field to induce"domains"
in a paramagnetic substance,[like from the latin ('pro'
magnetic rah, rah, rah, etc)]
.
In all the tiny crystals of metals where the electronic shells
merge together & surge about like schools of tropical fish
in a coral garden we see them setting up counte magnetic
fields that essentially linkthe field[lenz' law] to the other
side in a process called [what else] "connection".
.
Magnetomotive Force= Flux * Spacial Impermiability
look it up its the Ohms' law of 'Magnetics'.
.
In a neutron star where the body is pure neutronium
[Babylon V rah rah rah} it is difficult to set up domains.
[hey if you know a way you'll make my day & the FBI
will confiscate your PC] See, because when neutrons
decay, positive & negative particles emerge in preservation of the "Conservation of Charge Law" n[0] =e[-] + p [+] but I never
heard of anyone getting a magnetic moment out of
pure neutroniun..
.
All you poor souls worryin' bout the neutron star singing your
pants don't worry about it its only a 'gedankenexperiment'
to see if you could follow an argument without being bogged
down in inconsequentials. Actually' all the star, is a burnt out
cinder , you know solar pheonix reactions h+C => N[13?]
etc Got no power. Further, graviton interaction with thermal
molecules would absorb heat until the planet shattered
to become confetti on the star's surface, but very cool.
.
Knowledge is power, don't expect to find anything substantial
on a page labeled nasa.gov. They got the power & you move
the boxes. uh oh I think I just lost my benny points
SPQR

.

Re:YARIGISWPT

[Syncdata]

You all laughed when I stuck with the punch card system over your unsecure floppies! Who's laughing now!