Super-magnetic dead star throws a violent temper tantrum as NASA X-ray spacecraft looks on

(Main) an illustration of an erupting magnetar (inset) NASA's IXPE X-ray telescope.

Using NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft, astronomers have made detailed observations of a highly magnetic dead star or "magnetar" as it threw a massive tantrum.

The observations mark the first time that the polarization of X-rays from a magnetar, neutron stars possessing the most powerful magnetic fields in the known universe, have been measured during an outburst or "activation phase."