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IMAGE: This image contains an exceptional magnetar, a type of neutron star with very powerful
magnetic fields. Astronomers have found evidence that this object may be the youngest known
magnetar (about 500 years. view more
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of West Virginia/H. Blumer; Infrared (Spitzer and Wise): NASA/JPLCalTech/Spitzer
In 2020, astronomers added a new member to an exclusive family of exotic objects with the discovery of a magnetar. New observations from NASA s Chandra X-ray Observatory help support the idea that it is also a pulsar, meaning it emits regular pulses of light.
Magnetars are a type of neutron star, an incredibly dense object mainly made up of tightly packed neutron, which forms from the collapsed core of a massive star during a supernova.