{"id":364079,"date":"2026-04-04T23:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T23:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/364079\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T23:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T23:06:12","slug":"this-exploding-star-was-spotted-doing-something-weird-now-scientists-think-it-might-have-solved-a-key-cosmic-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/364079\/","title":{"rendered":"This exploding star was spotted doing something weird. Now scientists think it might have solved a key cosmic theory"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time ever, astronomers have caught a magnetar being born \u2013 the Universe\u2019s most intense, high-speed, magnetic neutron star.<\/p>\n

This discovery finally confirms a long-held theory about what actually fuels the brightest explosions in the cosmos.<\/p>\n

Reported by researchers at the University of California, the study links magnetars to ‘superluminous supernovae’.<\/p>\n

These aren’t your run-of-the-mill stellar deaths; they shine ten times brighter than a typical supernova.<\/p>\n

The wobble that changed everything<\/p>\n

The team was keeping a close eye on SN 2024afav, a distant supernova located about one billion lightyears away.<\/p>\n

Usually, a supernova\u2019s light fades out smoothly, like a dimming lightbulb. However, this one did something weird: it flickered.<\/p>\n

\"Artist'sArtist’s impression of a neutron star. Credit: ICE-CSIC\/D. Futselaar\/Marino et al.)<\/p>\n

Scientists realised this ‘chirp’ in the light signal was caused by debris falling back onto the newborn magnetar, causing it to wobble.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the clearest proof yet that a magnetar is the engine driving the explosion.<\/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 says study co-author Alex Filippenko.<\/p>\n

\"AnThis artist\u2019s impression shows the magnetar in the very rich and young star cluster Westerlund 1. Credit:
ESO\/L. Cal\u00e7ada<\/p>\n

To catch the event, a global network of telescopes tracked the explosion for over 200 days.<\/p>\n

This marathon session allowed them to spot tiny brightness variations that usually go unnoticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years the magnetar idea has felt almost like a theorist\u2019s magic trick,\u201d says Dan Kasen, a UC Berkeley theoretical astrophysicist. \u201cThe chirp in this supernova signal is like pulling back the curtain.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is a magnetar, anyway?<\/p>\n

When a massive star dies, it collapses into an ultra-dense core. A magnetar is what happens when that core has a magnetic field trillions of times stronger than Earth\u2019s and spins at a dizzying speed.<\/p>\n

This ‘cosmic dynamo’ pumps massive amounts of energy into the surrounding debris, keeping the explosion glowing bright for months.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

This isn’t just about one shiny star. It opens a new window into the final moments of massive stars.<\/p>\n

By hunting for more chirps in the future, astronomers hope to find more newborn magnetars and figure out how these magnetic powerhouses continue to shape our Universe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time ever, astronomers have caught a magnetar being born \u2013 the Universe\u2019s most intense, high-speed,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-364079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364079","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=364079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}