The resulting flash of energy -- which lasted only a tenth of a second -- released more energy than the Sun emits in 150,000 years.
A magnetar has an...well, I suppose it's a 'magnetar quake' then...and the energy released is so much that a 'tenth of a second' blast will blow back the hair of even the most hardened astrophysicist (wildly assuming he has hair). The physics and magnetarophysics of these entities (magnetars and not necessarily astrophysicists) are most fascinating.
Neutron stars form when a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel to burn. Under the weight of its own gravity, the star's core collapses into either a dense neutron star, or an even denser black hole.
The particles inside a neutron star are so tightly packed together that electrons are forced into the atomic nucleus, where they fuse with protons to make neutrons. This pure neutron material is so dense that a spoonful of it would weigh over a billion tons on Earth.
Some of these [magnetars] have intense magnetic fields, which are trillions of times greater than the Earth's magnetic field. On the high end of magnetic neutron stars are the magnetars.
Wonder what my compass will do on one of these things (apart, I suppose, from smearing itself to a sub-nanometer thin film over the surface.)
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