Using multiple telescopes around the world, including European Southern Observatory (ESO) facilities, researchers have uncovered a living star that is likely to become a magnetar. This finding marks the discovery of a new type of astronomical object — massive magnetic helium stars — and sheds light on the origin of magnetars. This research was presented in a paper to appear in Science (doi). Read here the ESO science release from 7 August 2023.
Image: © ESO/L. Calçada; this artist impression shows HD 45166, a massive star recently discovered to have a powerful magnetic field of 43 000 gauss, the strongest magnetic field ever found in a massive star. Intense winds of particles blowing away from the star are trapped by this magnetic field, enshrouding the star in a gaseous shell as illustrated here. Astronomers believe that this star will end its life as a magnetar, a compact and highly magnetic stellar corpse. As HD 45166 collapses under its own gravity, its magnetic field will strengthen, and the star will eventually become a very compact core with a magnetic field of around 100 trillion gauss — the most powerful type of magnet in the Universe. HD 45166 is part of a binary system. In the background, we get a glimpse of HD 45166’s companion, a normal blue star that has been found to orbit at a far larger distance than previously reported.