Friday, January 15, 2021

2980 - MAGNETARS - quasars and neutron stars

 -  2980 - MAGNETARS -  quasars and neutron stars? Quasars are among the brightest objects in the universe, quasars are luminous, “active galactic nuclei” powered by supermassive black holes that are actively feeding on nearby material.  Magnetars are a unique type of neutron stars, which are the collapsed cores of supergiant stars that died in supernova events


----------------------  2980  -  MAGNETARS -  quasars and neutron stars

-  We are orbiting the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at 27,400 lightyears.  Off in another direction at about the same distance is a spinning Neutron Star, called a “Magnetar”.   It is spinning with an enormous magnetic field.  A Neutron star is a star with so much mass its gravity has collapsed its electrons into the core of compact neutrons.  Neutrons are neutral charge so how can they have a magnetic field?

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-  The Earth is a spinning magnet as well.  But it takes 24 hours for one revolution.  These neutron tars spin much faster with rotations in just seconds.

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-  This particular neutron star in the Milky Way galaxy is 21,000 light-years from Earth,  It is the fastest-spinning magnetar  ever seen. And that's just the start of what makes this star strange. 

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-  Magnetars are a unique type of neutron stars, which are the collapsed cores of supergiant stars that died in supernova events. After the explosion what is left behind is neutron star.  What sets magnetars apart from other neutron stars is that they possess extremely powerful magnetic fields.

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-  Magnetars can also explode without warning and are fairly difficult to spot. Before this star was discovered, there were only 30 known magnetars, compared to the approximately 3,000 known neutron stars. 

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-  This newly discovered magnetar, known as “J1818.0-1607”, could be the fastest-spinning and possibly also the youngest magnetar known.  Astronomers first spotted this magnetar on March 12, 2020.  

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-  One of the first things that seemed intriguing about this particular magnetar was how young it appeared. Estimated to be about 500 years old, the youngest ever discovered. 

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-  Astronomers determine the magnetar’s age by measuring how quickly the rotation rate is slowing down because it spins slower over time.  It seemed to be rotating once fully every 1.4 seconds.  That is a spinning star for sure.

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-  Using radio telescopes astronomers have found that this star is also emitting radio waves.  This quality it shares with objects known as "rotation powered pulsars."  These are a type of neutron star that emits radiation that we on Earth detect as "pulses" of radio wave emissions.  Like a lighthouse beacon that sweeps by our field of vision.

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-   This magnetar isn't converting spinning energy from its rotations into X-ray emissions as efficiently as expected for a normal magnetar. In fact, the object is converting this energy at a rate most common with rotation-powered pulsars. 

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-   Most magnetars around this age would have left behind a debris field of material leftover from the supernova that created it.

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-  Astronomers have also spotted a brilliant “quasar” about 13.03 billion light-years from Earth. Quasars are among the brightest objects in the universe, quasars are luminous, “active galactic nuclei” powered by supermassive black holes that are actively feeding on nearby material.  We have one such blackhole at the center of our galaxy, but it is not so active.

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-  When material gets sucked in, the quasars release ultra-bright beams of electromagnetic radiation. Scientists suspect that these glowing, ultramassive objects could actually be an evolutionary stage for some galaxies. Scientists estimate that this particular quasar's blackhole ingests an amount of mass equivalent to 25 suns every year. 

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-  This quasar “J0313-1806” can be dated back to just 670 million years after the Big Bang when the universe was a mere 5% of its current age making it the most distant and earliest quasar ever found. 

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-  This quasar also hosts a supermassive blackhole that has a mass equal to 1.6 billion suns.  There is a wind of super-heated gas flowing from around the galaxy's supermassive blackhole, with this gas traveling at one fifth the speed of light. 

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-  This most distant quasar is estimated to create about 200 solar masses every single year, compared to our Milky Way's one solar mass per year.  This is a relatively high star formation rate, similar to that observed in other quasars of similar age, and it tells us the host galaxy is growing very fast.

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-   While this quasar is only 20 million light-years farther from Earth than the one that last held the title of "farthest quasar," the new record-holder's supermassive blackhole is about twice as heavy as that of its predecessor. 

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-  Quasars like J0313-1806 that already accumulated such immensely massive blackholes in such a short time in the early universe have puzzled scientists for years. While black holes can be created when stars explode in supernova and collapse and smaller black holes can merge, eventually building up mass, these ultra-massive early-universe quasars remain mysterious. How did they get so massive so quickly? 

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-  Even if the blackhole formed as early as 100 million years after the Big Bang and grew as fast as possible, it would still only be 10,000 times as massive as our sun and instead it is 1,600,000,000 times as massive. 

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------------------------------   Other reviews you might be interested in:

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-   2912  -MAGNETIC  FIELDS  -  they get big in astronomy?   Magnets get really powerful in astronomy.   Astronomers have measured a 1,000,000,000 Tesla Magnetic Field on the Surface of a Neutron Star.  It is the strongest magnetic field ever recorded in the Universe. The record-breaking field was discovered at the surface of a neutron star called GRO J1008-57 with a magnetic field strength of approximately 1 BILLION Tesla. 

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-  2727  -  MAGNETARS  -  magnetic stars in the heavens?  -  Magnetars are pulsars that have magnetic fields 1000 times greater that the average pulsar.  Pulsars are rotating neutron stars.  Neutron stars are what is left over after a large star dies, explodes into a supernova. 

-  2726  -  MAGNETISM  -  throughout the Universe?  In astronomy there are more distant, cosmic magnetic fields that are the reason that pulsars act like radio lighthouses and vast clouds of electrically conducting gas get sculpted into strange and unusual shapes

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-   2600  - MAGNETARS  -  magnetic stars?  Magnetism is one manifestation of the electromagnetic force, which is one of the four forces known in the universe.  All material that we know of is magnetic at some level. The electrons spin about the atom and the electrons themselves spin so that each atom becomes a tiny atomic magnet.  To go from the smallest to the very largest magnetic fields we need to go from atoms to stars. 

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-  2341  -  Magnetism is one manifestation of the electromagnetic force, which is one of the four forces known in the universe.  All material that we know of is magnetic at some level. The electrons spin about the atom and the electrons themselves spin so that each atom becomes a tiny atomic magnet.  To go from the smallest to the very largest magnetic fields we need to go from atoms to stars. 

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- 1878  -  Magnetic structures in the Galaxies.  New mysteries are uncovered to understand how magnetic fields throughout galaxies affect star formation and galactic structure.  New tools are creating 3-D maps.  Dark Matter remains 85% of the undiscovered.

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-  1383  -  Magnetars are lethal Neutron Stars.   Neutron Stars are exceedingly dense.  They have a ½ mile thick indestructible crust floating on a fluid of subatomic particles.  The fluid is a plasma of neutrons, protons, and electrons that are no longer atoms.  The core is made of neutrons which is the remnant of a massive star that exploded as a supernova.  The Neutron Star is what was left behind.  The rest blew into outer space.

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-  1223  -  Where do big stars go when they die?   Big stars have short lives and dramatic deaths.  This review highlights the bigger supernovae explosions that create Gamma Ray Bursts, Magnetars, and Pulsars.  It refers to a small satellite student project that hopes to contribute to our understanding of these cosmic wonders.

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-  1159  -  What are Magnetars?   After a supernova explosion of a massive star the remaining core can collapse into a Neutron Star, or a Blackhole, depending on how massive the core is that remains.  In certain situations the core could be a rapidly spinning , intensely magnetic Neutron Star, called a Magnetar. Neutron Stars are made of neutrons, not charged particles.  Spinning neutrons would not create a magnetic field.  Nothing escapes a Blackhole.  So, how can Neutron Stars and Blackholes create the enormous magnetic fields?

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-  1600 – William Gilbert, the first person to investigate magnetism using scientific methods, publishes  his work in a volume titled “De Magnete“.

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-  1865 – Physics Professor James Clerk Maxwell publishes a paper in which he unifies the areas of electricity and magnetism into a single theory.

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-  1901 – Norway’s Kristian Birkeland  begins building “Terrellas” (little Earths) to test his theory that the aurora are formed by electrons hitting Earth’s magnetic poles.

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-  1908 – American astronomer George Ellery Hale discovers magnetism on the Sun, providing the first evidence of magnetic fields beyond the Earth.

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-  1942 – Swedish physicist Hannes Alfvén theories that when a magnetic field threads through an electrically conducting gas, they become inseparable.

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-  2012 – After 35 years traveling through space, the Voyager 1 spacecraft finally exits the Solar System as it leaves the Sun’s vast bubble of magnetism behind.


January 14, 2021             MAGNETARS -  quasars                          2980                                                                                                                                                            

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--------------------- ---  Friday, January 15, 2021  ---------------------------






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