Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ghostly Ring Found Circling Dead Star

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the check-your-optics dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "An international team of scientists has found a strange ring around a dead star by using images taken by NASA's Spitzer space telescope. This star, called SGR 1900+14, belongs to a class of objects known as magnetars. According to NASA, a magnetar is 'a highly magnetized neutron star and the remnant of a brilliant supernova explosion signaling the death throes of a massive star.' So far, about a dozen magnetars have been found. An amazing thing about these stellar objects is their magnetic field. One of the researchers said that 'magnetars possess magnetic fields a million billion times stronger than the magnetic field of the Earth.'

42 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. In other news by unity100 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Dementor" announced that he intends to conquer all 3 magnetars and their orbital satellites.

    Judge Dredd was not available for comment.

    --
    Read radical news here
    1. Re:In other news by Bovius · · Score: 4, Funny

      Magnetar? Sorry, I'm not really into Pokemon.

    2. Re:In other news by Torvaun · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's super effective!

      --
      I see your informative link, and raise you a pithy comment.
  2. The ring by Plazmid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh great, now that NASA posted pictures on the internet of a ghostly ring, a lot of people are going to die seven days from now.

    1. Re:The ring by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I wouldn't worry abo...Whoa wait a minute. A ghostly ring, posted on Slashdot can mean only one thing. Do not RTFA! For the love of God DO NOT RTFA!

    2. Re:The ring by SBrach · · Score: 5, Funny

      In all fairness, they kept on rickrolling me.

    3. Re:The ring by Inner_Child · · Score: 3, Interesting

      http://xkcd.com/396/

      I'm surprised no one mentioned this already.

      --
      Today is red jello day - all workers must eat all of their red jello. Failure to comply will result in five demerits.
    4. Re:The ring by dfm3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Do not RTFA! For the love of God DO NOT RTFA! I wouldn't be so worried about that. This is Slashdot, after all...
    5. Re:The ring by jd · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No, only Nine Lords are doomed to die. But it would be interesting to know why Sauron and Melkor are messing around with a magnetar.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  3. Pssst! by Sta7ic · · Score: 5, Informative

    "A million billion" is 10^6 * 10^9 = 10^15 ... we also call that "a quadrillion".

    I'd be pretty excited about studying these things, were I a physical scientist. When you get some massively powerful EMF, electrons and protons must have very "interesting" behavior.

    1. Re:Pssst! by SBrach · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is that more or less than a Brazilian?

    2. Re:Pssst! by mark-t · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, that depends... iirc, a billion in the UK is not the same thing as a billion here. A billion here is 10^9, whereas if memory serves me correctly a billion in the UK is a million million, or 10^12. Personally I wish that they would just use scientific notation with numbers over a million, so that we'd really know what sort of order of magnitude we're talking about here. The difference between the US and UK systems just gets worse as the magnitudes get larger.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    3. Re:Pssst! by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 4, Informative

      The standard for a billion has been 10^9 all over the world now for some years. The older value was abandoned in the UK in 1974.

    4. Re:Pssst! by fyoder · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well, that depends... iirc, a billion in the UK is not the same thing as a billion here. A billion here is 10^9, whereas if memory serves me correctly a billion in the UK is a million million, or 10^12. Long and short scales

      Had to look that up because it sounded nuts. However, looks like you're sort of right, other than for the fact that UK has abandoned the long scale in favour of the short. So a quadrillion there is now a thousand trillion as well, rather than a 'billiard'.
      --
      Loose lips lose spit.
    5. Re:Pssst! by pablomme · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Only if by "all over the world" you mean English-speaking countries and Brazil. Citing Wikipedia,

      Most countries and languages in the world use the traditional long scale somewhat in contrast with your statement.
      --
      The state you are in while your HEAD is detached... - wait, what?
    6. Re:Pssst! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I was just about to make a remark about you being an insensitive clod ;-), but please note that billion being 10^12 is not an "older value" in certain countries. Actually, their list is much longer.

      Oh yes, I am aware than on an English-speaking (-writing ?) web site, one has to expect (= billion (expt 10 9)). On the other hand, I have noticed that for many of us Nonenglishmen and Nonamericans, it is simply still often an issue of our subconsciousness that we calculate with long scale numbers without realizing at first. Therefore refraining from using words like "million billion" and using "10^15" instead might actually be a good idea, especially in case of scientific topics. :-)

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    7. Re:Pssst! by jd · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, they had a choice. Either switch to the small scale or have very, very large billiard tables.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    8. Re:Pssst! by QuoteMstr · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm not a physicist, but I'm still fascinated by astronomical phenomena like this. Can anyone tell me what the effects of ultra-strong magnetic fields would be on a living creature? I know we can levitate frogs with powerful magnets, but nothing strange happens to the frog itself. Can we withstand a magnetic field of any strength?

    9. Re:Pssst! by guruevi · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, we can withstand quite large magnetic fields. MRI scanners are up to 16T right now (experimental) and the side effects minimal. I work in a 3T environment, and the only thing that is a problem is metal in, on or around the body, they get ripped straight out into the bore as soon as you pass the .5 Gauss line. The other precaution is when body parts form loops (like crossed arms or legs or arms/hands holding other body parts) they could potentially cause electric shocks and minor burns. Minor tingling or heat sensations of the extremities is considered not harmful. I think however, in the range (really close since magnetic fields drop with distance) of these type of things you might be able to shock or burn somebody to dead since their body acts as a coil.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    10. Re:Pssst! by Lazarian · · Score: 4, Informative
      I doubt any living thing could exist in magnetic fields that powerful. Wikipedia has some info...

      The magnetic field of a magnetar would be lethal even at a distance of 1000 km, tearing tissues due to the diamagnetism of water.

      Since magnetars rotate, I would guess that a person would probably be vaporized before being torn apart since you'd be travelling through magnetic flux fields. Such powerful fields have unusual effects on matter...

      X-ray photons readily split in two or merge together. The vacuum itself is polarized, becoming strongly birefringent, like a calcite crystal. Atoms are deformed into long cylinders thinner than the quantum-relativistic wavelength of an electron.

      In a field of about 105 teslas atomic orbitals deform into cigar shapes. At 1010 teslas, a hydrogen atom becomes a spindle 200 times narrower than its normal diameter.

      I think the most powerful field ever generated in a lab was less than 200 tesla.

    11. Re:Pssst! by morethanapapercert · · Score: 2, Informative
      I would have to venture a guess and say that there *must* be some upper limit on the number of Gauss a human body can be subjected to before physiological changes are noticed. Whatever that upper limit is though, it is far more powerful than anything you are likely to be exposed to on Earth. MRI machines expose you to fields of 5,000 to 30,000 Gauss. From Wikipedia and other sources I came up with the following values for common sources of magnetic flux energy: Earth's magnetic field .5 Gauss

      small iron magnet 100 Gauss

      small neodymium magnet 2,000 Gauss

      big electromagnet 15,000 Gauss

      Current FDA safety limit 80,000 Gauss (as of 2003)

      World's most powerful MRI 94,000 Gauss (Uni of Illinois, makes the sodium ions flip instead of the water molecules. In testing, subjects noted odd sensations while being moved into the field, but once stationary the effects went away)

      surface of a neutron star 10^12G (1,000,000,000,000 Gauss)

      --
      I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
    12. Re:Pssst! by The_Wilschon · · Score: 2, Informative

      they get ripped straight out into the bore as soon as you pass the .5 Gauss line. I think you must have meant .5 Tesla, as .5 Gauss is approximately the strength of the Earth's magnetic field.
      --
      SIGSEGV caught, terminating

      wait... not that kind of sig.
    13. Re:Pssst! by reverseengineer · · Score: 4, Informative
      The 16 Tesla field used to levitate that frog is towards the upper end of the field strength that can be safely tolerated for any duration by most organisms. A static magnetic field of 20T or more can interfere with enzymatic processes, and above 25T can interfere with nerve conduction. Pulsed magnetic fields can be considerably more dangerous at a given field strength, because they can induce eddy currents in the body which can cause cardiac arrhythmias, but you're still looking at around the 10T range unless your heart is particularly vulnerable.

      In contrast, the 10^11T field of a magnetar would tear you to pieces even several thousand km away, and then tear those pieces into smaller, grotesquely elongated pieces, as the field strength is enough to distort the geometries of atomic orbitals. What would of course actually kill you on your way to a magnetar are the X-rays and gamma rays the thing throws out, and these forms of radiation should be considered among the effects of a cosmically strong magnetic field. However, assuming you could survive those, the magnetic field itself would still instantly kill you. A particular problem is that your body is made up of many different kinds of atoms and molecules, which will be affected by the intense field differently depending on whether they are ions, have a dipole moment, etc., so that you will in a literal sense be disintegrated.

      --
      "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
    14. Re:Pssst! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 5, Informative

      He meant the 5 Gauss line. It's not enough to rip things off you, but you can stick paper clips to the wall. Or erase all the credit cards in your pocket.

    15. Re:Pssst! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Interesting that we can generate a field strong enough to noticeably deform atomic orbitals.

    16. Re:Pssst! by Repton · · Score: 3, Funny

      I didn't think it was possible to have less than a Brazilian...

      --
      Repton.
      They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
    17. Re:Pssst! by meringuoid · · Score: 2, Informative
      Interesting that we can generate a field strong enough to noticeably deform atomic orbitals.

      We can't. Copying and pasting from Wikipedia loses the superscript: that was 10^5 Tesla. Ten thousand Tesla. Way beyond our current capabilities :-)

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  4. not a ring by datapharmer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What ring? It just looks out of focus to me.

    --
    Get a web developer
    1. Re:not a ring by Pollardito · · Score: 4, Informative

      the ring is the empty looking space to the right of the star. the picture is kind of misleading because it seems like they're talking about a ring around that star, but the ring is instead circling an invisible object that's near it: "The magnetar itself is not visible in this image, as it has not been detected at infrared wavelengths (it has been seen in X-ray light)."

  5. I for one welcome . . . by StefanJ · · Score: 4, Funny

    . . . whoever the hell ran weapon tests on that star and its planets.

    Hail Whoever!

    1. Re:I for one welcome . . . by pembo13 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Who said it was a test?

      --
      "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
  6. Link with pic by IronChef · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2008-08/release.shtml

    1. Re:Link with pic by tulmad · · Score: 2, Informative

      Uhh, the link the summary has a link to the pic as well It's right at the top of the article...

      --
      "In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
  7. why oh why by thermian · · Score: 4, Funny

    As soon as I read the summary I immediately thought 'Intergalactic Goatse'.

    I need less internets.

    --
    A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
  8. Ringworld? by spineboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cool!, now we just need a General Products hull # 4 sufficient for colonization. Except that the damn star is dead.

    --
    ..........FULL STOP.
    1. Re:Ringworld? by rubycodez · · Score: 4, Funny

      Dear Partners and VARS,

      The following is privileged information as described by your General Products N.D.A. and is not to be transmitted to customers or third parties.

      while our General Products Hulls including the #4 provide protection against most hazards encountered in interstellar travel, gravitational tides with a steep gradient such as those found in the vicinity of neutron stars including magnetars can in fact cause bodily harm to occupants while not damaging or voiding warranty on the hull, e.g. rendering of tissues/organs to pulp or plasma.

      Also, although not widely advertised, antimatter may destroy a G.P. hull completely, and void the warranty, service agreements and maintenance contracts.

      We are not putting out any bulletins to customers or potential clients at this time, and partners only are to communicate any issues or incidents to our Hindmost and Vice Hindmost Partner's Relationship Manager, but going forward G.P. will deal with any occurrences on a case by base basis.

      Yours Very Truly,

      Messus, HTO, General Products

  9. I must be tired by Daimanta · · Score: 2, Funny

    I read it as "Ghosttly Ring found circling Death Star". I got strange thoughts in the 3 seconds in the 3 seconds after I read that sentence.

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
  10. Luck by AikonMGB · · Score: 2, Funny

    Quick, assemble the luckiest people our civilization has to offer!

    Aikon-
  11. Re:(As if this would be any different...) by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 4, Funny

    i.e., all of slashdot.

  12. Constellation... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny
    So far, about a dozen magnetars have been found.

    Most are in the constellation "Refrigetar".

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  13. Re:What are these scientists thinking about? by Torvaun · · Score: 2, Funny

    Young, hot stars, for one.
    Blowjobs for another.

    --
    I see your informative link, and raise you a pithy comment.
  14. Sci fi chemistry like deep ocean "smokers" by Fallen+Andy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In a field of about 105 teslas atomic orbitals deform into cigar shapes. At 1010 teslas, a hydrogen atom becomes a spindle 200 times narrower than its normal diameter.

    I think the most powerful field ever generated in a lab was less than 200 tesla.

    Which sort of implies that some *really* weird chemistry might be possible. Chemistry that simply wouldn't happen under more normal conditions. Cue the Sci Fi stories...

    Andy