Enormous explosion in 'Cigar Galaxy' reveals rare type of star never seen beyond the Milky Way

Hubble Telescope observations of the glorious galaxy M82, bursting with white starlight and red gas clouds. Stars are forming 10 times faster here than in our Milky Way, according to NASA.

An ultrabright explosion has led astronomers to find the first magnetic star to be discovered outside the Milky Way — and there could be many more out there.

The newfound magnetar, a dense relic of a once-bright star with a remarkably strong magnetic field, resides in the galaxy M82 (dubbed the Cigar Galaxy), roughly 12 million light-years from Earth. Scientists using a European Space Agency (ESA) telescope spotted the ultramagnetic star after it violently erupted and blasted out intense energy that lasted just a fraction of a second, according to a new study published Wednesday (April 24) in the journal Nature.