Canadian Astronomers Discover a Magnetar 79
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."
Magnetic Change (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Plus, (Score:3, Informative)
This one [nasa.gov] does. Sort of.
Re:Magnetic Change (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Change (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I'm no physicist... (Score:3, Informative)
"Extending" and "being able to suck change out of pockets and slow down locomotives" are two very different things.
Dipole magnetic fields drop off with the cube of distance, so on the surface of the neutron star (about 80,000 times closer), it would be strong enough to produce very exotic effects.
Re:Plus, (Score:5, Informative)
They explain it was detected by observing the effects the stars magnetic field has on charged particles. With a magnetic field of 10^15 gauss (vs 1-5 for the sun and the 10 - 50 for the Earth), it was mentioned that it won't just suck change out of your pocket, but rearrange the molecules in your body. Sounds like fun, doesn't it.
Reconstructing from media filter (Score:5, Informative)
It had been thought that SGRs are neutron stars with magnetic fields of ~1e14 Gauss (compared to the Crab's ~1e12 G or Earths ~1 G). This is a huge field that has enough energy (proportional to magnetic field squared) to power the huge blasts of radiation.
This new work by Samar Safi-Harb shows that the magnetic field is actually ~1e15 Gauss: 10x as strong and 100x the energy.
Rather hostile environment. (Score:3, Informative)
This is an interesting thought. However, in this case, they (and the planet) would likely be boiled to vapour by the x- and gamma-ray bursts that let us know about the star's magnetic field in the first place.
Magnetic effects around gas giants, while far, far weaker, might still be strong enough to play a role in the evolution of any creatures on/in gas giant moons, though.
For a couple of interesting sci-fi books about life in and around neutron stars, check out "The Integral Trees"/"The Smoke Ring", by Larry Niven, and "Dragon's Egg", by Robert Forward.
Re:Clarification please? (was re: Magnetic Change) (Score:2, Informative)