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But some stellar explosions refuse to follow that script. These events, called superluminous supernovae, burn far brighter than typical ones. They can shine ten times brighter than ordinary supernovae<\/a> and remain visible for much longer. <\/p>\n For years, astronomers debated what could power such intense and long-lasting light.<\/p>\n A new observation has provided a clear answer. Astronomers have witnessed the birth of a magnetar inside one of these rare explosions.<\/p>\n The experts noticed a strange pattern in the fading light of the blast \u2013 a repeating signal they describe as a \u201cchirp.\u201d<\/p>\n The intense energy of magnetars<\/p>\n Superluminous supernovae puzzled scientists soon after researchers began spotting them in the early 2000s. <\/p>\n The explosions looked too bright to be explained by the usual collapse of a star\u2019s iron core. Something inside the debris seemed to be adding extra energy.<\/p>\n Years ago, theorists suggested a possible culprit: a magnetar \u2013 a type of neutron star<\/a> with an extremely strong magnetic field. <\/p>\n Neutron stars are already among the densest objects in the universe, formed when a massive star collapses. Magnetars push those limits even further. <\/p>\n These compact remnants measure only about 10 miles across, yet a newly formed magnetar can spin more than 1,000 times per second. <\/p>\n The magnetic field of a magnetar is hundreds to thousands of times more powerful than the field of an ordinary pulsar, another type of rotating neutron star.<\/p>\n The idea was simple. If a newborn magnetar sat inside the expanding debris of a supernova, its intense energy could slam charged particles into the surrounding material. That interaction could keep the explosion shining far longer and brighter than normal.<\/p>\n New clues in a powerful explosion<\/p>\n The magnetar explanation remained a theory for years. Researchers saw signs that supported it, but no one had observed clear evidence that a magnetar had formed inside a superluminous explosion.<\/p>\n That changed after a distant supernova appeared in late 2024. UC Berkeley<\/a> graduate student Joseph Farah closely analyzed the event using observations from Las Cumbres Observatory\u2019s global network of 27 telescopes.<\/p>\n The explosion, known as SN 2024afav, occurred roughly a billion light-years from Earth. Telescopes tracked the brightness of the supernova for more than 200 days. <\/p>\n At first the event behaved as expected. Its brightness rose and reached a peak about 50 days after the explosion. Then something unusual happened.<\/p>\n Instead of fading smoothly, the light dipped and rose several times. The pattern appeared as four bumps in the fading signal. Each bump arrived sooner than the one before it.<\/p>\n A signal that sped up over time<\/p>\n The unusual light pattern caught the attention of Farah and his colleagues. It suggested that something inside the supernova was periodically blocking or redirecting the light.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really exciting is that this is definitive evidence for a magnetar forming as the result of a superluminous supernova core collapse,\u201d said Alex Filippenko, a professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley.<\/p>\n \u201cThe basis of Dan Kasen and Stan Woosley\u2019s model is that all you need is the energy of the magnetar deep within and a good fraction of it will get absorbed, and that\u2019ll explain why the thing is superluminous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat had not been demonstrated was that a magnetar did in fact form in the middle of the supernova, and that\u2019s what Joseph\u2019s paper shows.\u201d<\/p>\n The pattern also pointed to a deeper explanation involving gravity itself. The timing of the brightness bumps sped up in a way that matched a prediction from Einstein\u2019s theory of general relativity<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tested several ideas, including purely Newtonian effects and precession driven by the magnetar\u2019s magnetic fields, but only Lense-Thirring precession matched the timing perfectly,\u201d Farah said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is the first time general relativity has been needed to describe the mechanics of a supernova.\u201d<\/p>\n When relativity enters the scene<\/p>\n The research team believes the supernova left behind a rapidly spinning magnetar surrounded by an accretion disk made from material that fell back after the explosion. The disk likely did not line up perfectly with the magnetar\u2019s rotation.<\/p>\n General relativity predicts that a spinning object drags space-time along with it. In this case, the rotating magnetar would cause the disk to wobble. Astronomers call this effect Lense-Thirring precession.<\/p>\n As the disk wobbled, it likely blocked and reflected light coming from the magnetar at regular intervals. <\/p>\n Over time, the disk moved closer to the neutron star. That inward motion caused the wobbling cycle to speed up, producing the unusual pattern in the light curve.<\/p>\n \u201cFor years the magnetar idea has felt almost like a theorist\u2019s magic trick \u2013 hiding a powerful engine behind layers of supernova debris. It was a natural explanation for the extraordinary brightness of these explosions, but we couldn\u2019t see it directly,\u201d said Dan Kasen, a theoretical astrophysicist at UC Berkeley.<\/p>\n \u201cThe chirp in this supernova signal is like that engine pulling back the curtain and revealing that it\u2019s really there.\u201d<\/p>\n Measuring the newborn magnetar<\/p>\n The observations allowed astronomers to estimate key properties of the object formed in the explosion. The neutron star appears to spin once every 4.2 milliseconds. That rapid rotation is a typical trait of young magnetars.<\/p>\n The magnetic field is even more extreme. Researchers estimate it to be about 300 trillion times stronger than Earth\u2019s magnetic field<\/a>. Such strength easily qualifies the object as a magnetar.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Joseph has found the smoking gun,\u201d said Andy Howell, a senior scientist at Las Cumbres Observatory. \u201cHe\u2019s tied the bumps into the magnetar model and explained everything with the best-tested theory in astrophysics \u2013 general relativity. It is incredibly elegant.\u201d<\/p>\n Filippenko emphasized the importance of seeing Einstein\u2019s theory at work in this setting. \u201cTo see a clear effect of Einstein\u2019s general theory of relativity is always exciting, but seeing it for the first time in a supernova is especially rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n Magnetars are only part of the story<\/p>\n The discovery does not mean every superluminous supernova comes from a magnetar. <\/p>\n Some explosions may still brighten when shock waves slam into gas surrounding the star. In other cases, the collapse of a star could create a black hole that powers the light.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know what fraction of Type I superluminous supernovae might be powered by circumstellar material, but it\u2019s definitely a smaller fraction than we previously thought, because this discovery clearly accounts for some of them,\u201d noted Filippenko.<\/p>\n Future telescopes should reveal many more examples. The upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory will conduct a massive survey of the night sky, capturing countless exploding stars.<\/p>\n Farah expects that survey to uncover dozens of similar events with the same chirping signal.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the most exciting thing I have ever had the privilege to be a part of. This is the science I dreamed of as a kid,\u201d Farah said. \u201cIt\u2019s the universe telling us out loud and in our face that we don\u2019t fully understand it yet, and challenging us to explain it.\u201d<\/p>\n The full study was published in the journal Nature<\/a>.<\/p>\n Image Credit: Joseph Farah and Curtis McCully, Las Cumbres Observatory<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Check us out on EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls<\/a> and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Magnetars are among the most powerful objects in the universe, but astronomers rarely get the chance to see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-329579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}