{ "id": 11713, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11713/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Fermi Finds Hints of Starquakes in Magnetar 'Storm'", "description": "Astronomers analyzing data acquired by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope during a rapid-fire \"storm\" of high-energy blasts in 2009 have discovered underlying signals related to seismic waves rippling throughout the host neutron star.The burst storm came from SGR J1550−5418, a neutron star with a super-strong magnetic field, also known as a magnetar. Located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Norma, the magnetar was quiet until October 2008, when it entered a period of eruptive activity that ended in April 2009. At times, the object produced hundreds of bursts in as little as 20 minutes, and the most intense explosions emitted more total energy than the sun does in 20 years. High-energy instruments on many spacecraft, including NASA's Swift and Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, detected hundreds of gamma-ray and X-ray blasts.An examination of 263 individual bursts detected by Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor confirms vibrations in the frequency ranges previously only seen in rare giant flares from magnetars. Astronomers suspect these are twisting oscillations of the star where the crust and the core, bound by the magnetic field, vibrate together. In addition, a single burst showed an oscillation at a frequency never seen before and which scientists still do not understand.While there are many efforts to describe the interiors of neutron stars, scientists lack enough observational detail to choose between differing models. Neutron stars reach densities far beyond the reach of laboratories and their interiors may exceed the density of an atomic nucleus by as much as 10 times. Knowing more about how bursts shake up these stars will give theorists an important new window into understanding their internal structure.Magnetar Burst with Torsional Waves || ", "release_date": "2014-10-21T14:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:50:24.426843-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 450243, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011700/a011713/Magnetar_Burst_Torsional_Waves_1080.jpg", "filename": "Magnetar_Burst_Torsional_Waves_1080.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A rupture in the crust of a highly magnetized neutron star, shown here in an artist's rendering, can trigger high-energy eruptions. Fermi observations of these blasts include information on how the star's surface twists and vibrates, providing new insights into what lies beneath. The subtle pattern on the surface represents a twisting motion imparted to the magnetar by the explosion.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 }, "main_video": { "id": 2, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a001700/a001703/4559_Kepler_Neptune_Twitter_720.mp4", "filename": "4559_Kepler_Neptune_Twitter_720.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 }, "main_credits": {}, "progress": "Complete", "media_groups": [ { "id": 339876, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11713/#media_group_339876", "widget": "Basic text with HTML", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "Astronomers analyzing data acquired by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope during a rapid-fire \"storm\" of high-energy blasts in 2009 have discovered underlying signals related to seismic waves rippling throughout the host neutron star.

The burst storm came from SGR J1550−5418, a neutron star with a super-strong magnetic field, also known as a magnetar. Located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Norma, the magnetar was quiet until October 2008, when it entered a period of eruptive activity that ended in April 2009.

At times, the object produced hundreds of bursts in as little as 20 minutes, and the most intense explosions emitted more total energy than the sun does in 20 years. High-energy instruments on many spacecraft, including NASA's Swift and Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, detected hundreds of gamma-ray and X-ray blasts.

An examination of 263 individual bursts detected by Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor confirms vibrations in the frequency ranges previously only seen in rare giant flares from magnetars. Astronomers suspect these are twisting oscillations of the star where the crust and the core, bound by the magnetic field, vibrate together. In addition, a single burst showed an oscillation at a frequency never seen before and which scientists still do not understand.

While there are many efforts to describe the interiors of neutron stars, scientists lack enough observational detail to choose between differing models. Neutron stars reach densities far beyond the reach of laboratories and their interiors may exceed the density of an atomic nucleus by as much as 10 times. Knowing more about how bursts shake up these stars will give theorists an important new window into understanding their internal structure.
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The research helped rule out some of the possible stellar objects originally thought to cause these brilliant flares.For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Additional Visualizations:Sunrise over the Pacific: ArtbeatsAnimation of Magnetar: Scott WiessingerFRB Locations Animation: Scott Wiessinger and Chris SmithGamma Ray Burst Illustration: Michael StarobinNeutron Star Merger: Michael StarobinMagnetar Flyby Animation: Chris SmithMagnetar Flare Sequence: Chris SmithMusic Credits: \"Deep Caverns\" by JC Lemay [SACEM] via Koka Media [SACEM], Universal Publishing Production Music France [SACEM], and Universal Production Music. || ", "release_date": "2021-05-20T12:55:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:44:07.288809-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 378448, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013800/a013864/13864_FRB_WIDE_PRINT.jpg", "filename": "13864_FRB_WIDE_PRINT.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 13751, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13751/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA Missions Team Up to Study Unique Magnetar Outburst", "description": "On April 28, space- and ground-based observatories detected powerful, simultaneous X-ray and radio bursts from a source in our galaxy. Watch to see how this unique event helps solve the longstanding puzzle of fast radio bursts observed in other galaxies.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Jupiter's Eye\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Magnetar_FRB_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [535.5 KB] || Magnetar_FRB_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [65.5 KB] || Magnetar_FRB_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.8 KB] || 13751_Magnetar_FRB_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.2 GB] || 13751_Magnetar_FRB_Best_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [741.8 MB] || 13751_Magnetar_FRB_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [237.4 MB] || 13751_Magnetar_FRB_Best_1080.webm (1920x1080) [25.7 MB] || Fast_Radio_Burst_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [4.5 KB] || Fast_Radio_Burst_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [4.5 KB] || ", "release_date": "2020-11-04T11:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:44:32.489079-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 381635, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013700/a013751/Magnetar_FRB_Still.jpg", "filename": "Magnetar_FRB_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "On April 28, space- and ground-based observatories detected powerful, simultaneous X-ray and radio bursts from a source in our galaxy. Watch to see how this unique event helps solve the longstanding puzzle of fast radio bursts observed in other galaxies.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Jupiter's Eye\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 11260, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11260/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA's Swift Catches an Anti-glitch from a Neutron Star", "description": "Using observations by NASA's Swift satellite, an international team of astronomers has identified an abrupt slowdown in the rotation of a neutron star. The discovery holds important clues for understanding some of the densest matter in the universe.While astronomers have witnessed hundreds of events, called glitches, associated with sudden increases in the spin of neutron stars, the sudden spin-down caught them off guard. A neutron star is the crushed core of a massive star that ran out of fuel, collapsed under its own weight, and exploded as a supernova. It's the closest thing to a black hole that astronomers can observe directly, compressing half a million times Earth's mass into a ball roughly the size of Manhattan Island. Matter within a neutron star is so dense that a teaspoonful would weigh about a billion tons on Earth. Neutron stars possess two other important traits. They spin rapidly, ranging from a few rpm to as many as 43,000, comparable to the blades of a kitchen blender, and they boast magnetic fields a trillion times stronger than Earth's. About two dozen neutron stars occasionally produce high-energy explosions that astronomers say require magnetic fields thousands of times stronger than expected. These exceptional objects, called magnetars, are routinely monitored by a McGill team led by Kaspi using Swift's X-Ray Telescope.Read the rest of the story here. || ", "release_date": "2013-05-29T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:07.787460-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 465955, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a011260/Magnetar_Still_FINAL_1080.jpg", "filename": "Magnetar_Still_FINAL_1080.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "An artist's rendering of an outburst on an ultra-magnetic neutron star, also called a magnetar.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 10366, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10366/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Soft Gamma-Ray Repeater Light Echoes Captured by Swift Satellite", "description": "The X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard NASA's Swift satellite captured light echoes from a soft-gamma-ray repeater. These stellar remnants, which are thought to be highly magnetized neutron stars called magnetars, occasionally belt out a series of X- and gamma-ray flares. On Jan. 22, 2009, an object known as SGR J1550-5418 began its second and most intense round of outbursts since October 2008. In the following days, Swift's XRT captured what appears to be an expanding halo as X-rays from the brightest bursts scatter off of intervening dust. Multiple rings form as the X-rays interact with different dust clouds. Closer clouds produce larger rings. Both the rings and their apparent expansion are an effect of light's finite speed and the longer path the scattered light must travel. They will be studied to make a more reliable measurement of the distance to the source and to the dust clouds. || ", "release_date": "2009-02-10T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:56.718933-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 500243, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010300/a010366/SGR_no_overlay_1280x720.00252_print.jpg", "filename": "SGR_no_overlay_1280x720.00252_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Animation of X-ray halo from the flaring neutron star SGR J1550-5418 without overlays.Credit: NASA/Swift/Jules Halpern, Columbia Univ.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }