What are Magnetars? The Most Magnetic Objects in the Universe

Magnetars are neutron stars with massively boosted magnetic fields. How do this stellar remnants form, and what would happen if you got too close to one?
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Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain
Jason Harmer - @jasoncharmer
Chad Weber - [e-mail]
Created by: Fraser Cain and Jason Harmer
Edited by: Chad Weber
Music: Left Spine Down - “X-Ray”
• Left Spine Down - Side...
In a previous episode, we crushed that idea that the Universe is perfect for life. It’s not. Almost the entire Universe is a horrible and hostile place, apart from a fraction of a mostly harmless planet in a backwater corner of the Milky Way.
While living here on Earth takes about 80 years to kill you, there are other places in the Universe at the very other end of the spectrum. Places that would kill you in a fraction of a fraction of a second.
And nothing is more lethal than supernovae and remnants they leave behind: neutron stars.
We’ve done a few shows about neutron stars and their different flavours, so there should be some familiar terrain here.
As you know, neutron stars are formed when stars more massive than our Sun explode as supernovae. When these stars die, they no longer have the light pressure pushing outward to counteract the massive gravity pulling inward.
This enormous inward force is so strong that it overcomes the repulsive force that keeps atoms from collapsing. Protons and electrons are forced into the same space, becoming neutrons. The whole thing is just made of neutrons. Did the star have hydrogen, helium, carbon and iron before? That’s too bad, because now it’s all neutrons.
You get pulsars when neutron stars first form. When all that former star is compressed into a teeny tiny package. The conservation of angular motion spins the star up to tremendous velocities, sometimes hundreds of times a second.
But when neutron stars form, about one in ten does something really really strange, becoming one of the most mysterious and terrifying objects in the Universe.
They become magnetars. You’ve probably heard the name, but what are they?
As I said, magnetars are neutron stars, formed from supernovae. But something unusual happens as they form, spinning up their magnetic field to an intense level. In fact, astronomers aren’t exactly sure what happens to make them so strong.
One idea is that if you get the spin, temperature and magnetic field of a neutron star into a perfect sweet spot, it sets off a dynamo mechanism that amplifies the magnetic field by a factor of a thousand.
But a more recent discovery gives a tantalizing clue for how they form. Astronomers discovered a rogue magnetar on an escape trajectory out of the Milky Way. We’ve seen stars like this, and they’re ejected when one star in a binary system detonates as a supernova. In other words, this magnetar used to be part of a binary pair.
And while they were partners, the two stars orbited one another closer than the Earth orbits the Sun. This close, they could transfer material back and forth. The larger star began to die first, puffing out and transferring material to the smaller star. This increased mass spun the smaller star up to the point that it grew larger and spewed material back at the first star.
The initially smaller star detonated as a supernova first, ejecting the other star into this escape trajectory, and then the second went off, but instead of forming a regular neutron star, all these binary interactions turned it into a magnetar.
There you go, mystery maybe solved?
The strength of the magnetic field around a magnetar completely boggles the imagination. The magnetic field of the Earth’s core is about 25 gauss, and here on the surface, we experience less than half a gauss. A regular bar magnet is about 100 gauss. Just a regular neutron star has a magnetic field of a trillion gauss.
Magnetars are 1,000 times more powerful than that, with a magnetic field of a quadrillion gauss.
What if you could get close to a magnetar? Well, within about 1,000 kilometers of a magnetar, the magnetic field is so strong it messes with the electrons in your atoms. You would literally be torn apart at an atomic level. Even the atoms themselves are deformed into rod-like shapes, no longer usable by your precious life’s chemistry.
But you wouldn’t notice because you’d already be dead from the intense radiation streaming from the magnetar, and all the lethal particles orbiting the star and trapped in its magnetic field.
One of the most fascinating aspects of magnetars is how they can have starquakes. You know, earthquakes, but on stars… starquakes.

[@cortster12]

Magnetars are my favorite type of stars. Hands down. They are the definition of awesome.

[@smittyb9418]

Neutron stars are my favorite period!!!

[@dovid916]

@@smittyb9418 I disagree, so therefore you are wrong sir! Magnetars reign king.

[@Snowy123]

Next episode pls be 'how to fling a megnetar into an enemy alien civilization'

[@SwishNDimeN]

+Frrrrrrrrunkis yes please

[@frasercain]

Whoa... I"m putting that idea on my list o' topics. "How Would Aliens Fight?"

[@frasercain]

No... "How Would Aliens Fight Us?" That's better. :-)

[@METAL1ON]

We are proof that Aliens exist.

[@SuperJohnnyuk]

i think an advanced alien civilisation would take it chances with a Magnetar or even a supermassive black hole, what they would fear the most is if we fling them a few moaning and entitled SJWs!

[@shrappnel21]

It's pretty mind boggling to imagine forces that can crack the ultra dense material found in these stars. When I die and become a ghost, I'm gonna explore the freakin' galaxy.

[@Ph4lip]

shrappnel21 Yeah its not like you can travel in the speed of light. But even if you did you would find yourself pretty slow

[@Supersteam09]

shrappnel21 You have no idea if you’ll even have enough freedom to do such thing as a ghost.

[@deltaninjadrm]

this guy makes a comment and 2 people decide to shit on his parade, bet they're fun at parties

[@boogieboss]

I was thinking the same, just watching from a save spot as a ghost and teleporting around the universe would be cool.

[@backwoodsjunkie08]

same here! we should all meet up and go chill by some awesome astronomical events! I've always wanted to see a black hole devour a planet/star

[@Ronwolf69]

"delicious murder crust" ? LOL

[@ishb3w]

forwarding this to all my favorite metal bands in hopes they make a song out of it lol

[@VaderDarth512]

This guy needs more subscribers!

[@thainaaier]

agree ..... +1 subscriber here

[@Cotinine]

+JimB make that one more

[@akatsukimaro6253]

Subscribed to fraizer cain

[@MommaWolf1967]

This guy has no idea what he is talking about he is no Scientist like I am

[@DemandAlphabetBeBrokenUp]

If he becomes Doctor Fraser Cain. He would get them

[@voltagedrop5899]

what's the faster way to collect energy: building a dyson swarm or putting a giant copper coil around a magnetar?

[@davesmith4646]

Voltage Drop the gravitational pull will rip any attempt to collect its energy into a thin strain of atoms

[@jumpieva]

But you're still thinking within the realm of what we currently know, can measure, or prove. Things that are thought of as scifi may indeed be a reality some day. And that means truly harnessing the power of an object such as this. We seriously need to crack the code however on that pesky nuisance called quantum / particle physics.

[@The_SCPFoundation]

jumpieva perfectly said. I agree

[@MommaWolf1967]

There have been a number of posts about interstellar travel on this blog, including one on the feasibility of an idea from Stephen Hawking regarding the use of Dyson spheres to absorb a star’s energy and focusing all this power to create a warp bubble, theoretical spaceships powered by artificial micro black holes, and a review of a very grounded relativistic rocket. And while most of these posts focused on how hard it is to get the energy necessary to bend space and time to allow for faster interstellar travel, as well as how hard it is to build an honest to goodness warp drive, this time I thought we’d do something a tad different and take a look at violent events in our universe to see which of them could provide either us, or advanced alien species with the energy necessary to warp time and space if we, or they, ever found a workable way to harness them. First, we need to establish a baseline. We need 1042 J at our disposal to start altering the flow of space itself and we need to be find an event that will release at least this much power very quickly and in one place. Sure, we could set up enough solar panels around enough stars and wait for billions of years until we store enough energy, but that’s wildly impractical even for the most advanced species out there. No, we need one burst that could be harnessed and channeled into creating a warp bubble, or fuel a relativistic rocket of nearly any size to over 95% of the speed of light so relativity could take over and remove the time limits on the trip. And that’s why we’re going to turn our attention to supernovas first and foremost. When massive stars that quickly burn a lot of fuel die, they release more energy than it would take to completely disintegrate our heavy, large Sun, and more than is thought to be required to make an interstellar trip. Hypernovas, which happen when a heavy star between 8 and 130, or 250 solar masses and above, collapse into a black hole. Suns that tip the scales at 130 to 250 solar masses will simply vaporize when they explode. A typical supernova could release as much as 1.2 × 1044 J and a hypernova can put out an average of 1046 J, between 100 and 10,000 times the energy we’d need to alter the expansion of space-time, respectively. With a power source like that, any warp ship could hurl itself across vast stretches of space at superluminal speeds. Of course the only question is how to harness all that energy and focus it into a beam just a few meters wide since supernovas cover a very wide area. Hypernovas might be more convenient since as newly formed black holes try to feed on the leftover stellar matter, they belch out extremely powerful beams of gamma rays in just two directions, focusing the energy with magnetic fields which twist like corkscrews. If they were focused even further by a hypothetical spacecraft riding along them, maybe, they could be used to summon a warp bubble and pave us a way to another star. Unless the spacecraft in our scenario come way too close to a beam and get fried, or even worse, pulled into the black hole’s maw by its powerful tidal forces. It would be awfully hard to try and carry out an interstellar mission that way And there’s another potential energy source for a would be warp ship, capable of producing up to 2.7 × 1048 J with only a slight twitch. We’re talking about a magnetar, a neutron star with a magnetic field over a quadrillion times stronger than that of our planet, and a curst under so much pressure and with such a high density, that just a centimeter of movement during a quake causes a massive magnetic line reconnection and an eruption of energy strong enough to be felt some 50,000 light year away. Actually, we already felt the shockwave of an immense quake on magnetar SGR 1806-20, which is halfway across the galaxy from us. With quakes more than two million times greater than a warp ship’s baseline, magnetars could power even the biggest craft with just one eruption. However, since stars which can produce hypernovas or leave magnetars are in the minority of the galaxy’s population, the craft in question would need to be able to get to them in the first place. Plus, the magnetic fields measuring 10 billion tesla could easily fry any spaceship and instantly kill its occupants if the craft gets a little too close to one of these hyper-magnetized stellar zombies. While trying to harness the power unleashed by dying and dead stars might not be practical anytime soon, the numbers do show that there is enough energy out there to make an interstellar trip should we find out how we can capture and manage it. But hopefully there’s a simpler way out. The baseline figure for a warp drive given in this post relies on the idea that all this energy at very high densities would speed up the ongoing expansion of the cosmos locally and temporarily. However, what if there’s another way to trigger a warp bubble? What if it takes a lot less energy than we think due to physics we don’t yet know? The only way to know is to experiment with extremely high energy phenomena and find out for ourselves through trial and error Hope this helps to answer your question Voltage Drop

[@Monosekist]

What about using solar panels aimed as a supernova?

[@magarmuch3524]

seriously, your channel deserves more viewers and likes!

[@frasercain]

Thanks!

[@MusiCaninesTheMusicalDogs]

Awesome video, Fraser! Magnetars are rarely covered by science speakers! 👏 👏 👏

[@justicewarrior9187]

Absolutely awesome explanation!

[@Prim3Pursuits]

Excellent video! very interesting.

[@Barnardrab]

You're talking about the roche limit in the next video? I can't wait for that one.

[@frasercain]

Yup. :-)

[@brittany2231]

Hello, Fraser! Just wanted to thank you for making these videos and glad to be subscribed to another space info show! I know the proverbial dead horse is pretty bruised up, but are more black hole videos in the future?

[@Adama.1]

What other good channels about space do you know? I love Fraser's, but I'm looking for even more :p

[@DeadForestWalk]

+Jesse Pinkman SciShow Space and Sixty Symbols have some interesting videos :)

[@frasercain]

I've definitely got a few more black hole episodes planned, Here are some on my list: How Cold are Black Holes? Does Every Galaxy Have a Black Hole? But if you have some specific topics, let me know.

[@brittany2231]

Jesse Pinkman Sorry for the delayed reply but I have a few recommendations. These channels cover many, many topics, including space, Standard Model physics, General Relativity, as well as other scientific fields of interest if you find yourself rabbit trailing about like I do.. ***** PBS Space Time SciShow Space ***** Veritasium It's Okay To Be Smart Love these channels.

[@brittany2231]

***** Officially excited with this news. Black holes are the most intense... THINGS... in the universe and they absolutely boggle the mind. I didn't have any questions planned, but I do not recall some curiosities being satiated. How old is the oldest black hole? How long would it take a probe with our fastest current technology to reach the closest black hole? What kind of technology would be needed to get to, observe, and at what point would the most beastly tech possible stop beaming signals back? However, I have other questions. Will we ever develop the technology to somehow see all the way (or at least most of the way) through the cosmic dust disk of the Milky Way? Sorry for all the typing. And, again, your videos are awesome!

[@-riley9997]

Awesome video! And can you make a video about what the universe is expanding into?

[@Pendoza84]

Very informational and good episode. I knew about them but this is so well explained! Star Quakes rock! Keep it up!

[@Taffeyboy]

Good job! Thanks.

[@bjrniversen9008]

Thanx for uploading😃

[@htiz5147]

Love reading through comments and hearing what people type in the video

[@norml.hugh-mann]

great episode

[@leonid123ful]

Love your videos Fraser!

[@frasercain]

Thanks!

[@Thalanna]

I love this channel :)

[@Sergio0Oo]

awesome channel!!!

[@ignarock144]

Amazing video, thanks from chile

[@frasercain]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@AubriGryphon]

Hi, Fraser! I was in the Pacific Northwest this past week, and I thought of you as I zoomed down the road from Victoria to Sidney. Since you're basically the only person I know on Vancouver Island.

[@frasercain]

Welcome to my island. I live about halfway up the island, in Courtenay.

[@georgenelson9211]

The Roche Limit video is going to crush it!

[@LordBitememan]

Great and informative video!

[@frasercain]

Thanks!

[@LaibaStarXX]

Thanks I learned something👍🏻

[@zaheed73]

Fraser looks like Thanos in 'Avengers Magnetars' talking about infinity stones.

[@frasercain]

Whoa. :-)

[@HiR0SHi.the.D0G]

Awsome!

[@MommaWolf1967]

A magnetar is a type of neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field. The magnetic field decay powers the emission of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, particularly X-rays and gamma rays

[@frasercain]

Oh, spoiler alert. :-)

[@levishhunted7593]

So what's the difference between a magnetar and a pulsar

[@rea1859]

Brittany Rozenberg Hollander thank you for the info

[@Rakeshkumar-ly6gm]

Thanks Mr. Faser

[@yendorelrae5476]

Did he say "mostly harmless"? That Fraser Cain is one cool astrophysicist that knows where his towel is!

[@stratorunner1]

Thankiuu !

[@WolfyOfHonor]

This channel is so underrated

[@frasercain]

Aww thanks, make sure you tell your friends. :-)

[@Starseed3]

So. bloody. cool.

[@frasercain]

Agreed.

[@Rakeshkumar-ly6gm]

Thnx Mr.Frasee

[@Hecatonicosachoron]

Have you done a video on Altair, its possible starspots, and other high-resolution images of fast spinning stars? They're visually quite astounding - and interesting in themselves as well.

[@Garen1]

Please do more on neutron stars!!!!

[@frasercain]

I'm kind of running out. There's one more super exotic object, where a massive star consumes a neutron star.

[@MommaWolf1967]

A magnetar is a type of neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field.

[@sarahszabo4323]

Jesus Christ! I didn't even know that magnetic fields that powerful existed! I knew that the one a neutron star typically gives off is ridiculously powerful, but that's just insane!

[@frasercain]

Yeah, there's no other place like it in the Universe.

[@DamianReloaded]

+Fraser Cain black holes? ^_^

[@sarahszabo4323]

Damian Reloaded Is a magnatar's magnetic field stronger than most black holes magnetic fields?

[@DamianReloaded]

Sarah Szabo It's said that black holes' magnetic field can exert a force as strong as its gravitational pull. But I guess it depends on the mass of the blackhole and the mass of the magnetar.

[@DamianReloaded]

Fraser Cain Hey Fraser, could a blackhole be "unwrapped"/"sucked out" by another black hole gravitational pull? Here is where the singularity is sort of stupid cause it implies that a microscopic blackhole's singularity would wrap space time as much as a super massive one. Otheriwise we could picture them as two holes one deeper than the other and as their warped spaces coincided at some point mid way of the deepest hole the smaller hole's "bottom" would be leveled with the largest hole's "inner surface" and would spit out it's "guts" down the more massive one... or get ejected? O_o

[@ionutpreda193]

Well done brother you are good

[@williamsall1345]

Awesome!

[@frasercain]

Indeed.

[@unclvinny]

Nice video, I'm glad I subscribed. Here's my question: I read recently that a surprisingly large fraction of the meteorites found on the Earth started out as part of Vesta. How do we know this, and...why so much from Vesta? Cheers!

[@frasercain]

I don't know if it's a large part. It's amazing that meteorites from Vesta have been discovered on Earth. www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/multimedia/pia15605.html

[@simondalling7489]

The motion of starts would be a good subject. Some stars have a high angular motion like Barnards star. Others like Gliese 710 do not have a high angular momentum but still have motion, travelling almost straight towards arriving in about 1.35 million years where it is possible it will disturb our Oort Cloud.

[@frasercain]

I like that. An episode about the motions of stars. I'll put that on my list.

[@kylet7916]

Explosions pfft lol When you haven't realized that the connective distance between magetars can decay any radioactive energy emissions. Rendering any interstellar activity virtually useless distorting gravitation itself. And effectively shredding any matter in its cosmic path in wavelengths. Literally, reverberating a rippling effect in the fabric of space.

[@frasercain]

The point is, you don't want to get close.

[@warecb]

I have a question that is different than the video subject but was mentioned a little. I have always wondered how gravity works to collapse a star once the outward pressure isnt strong enough to hold it. Gravity as explained is sort a warp or disturbance in the spacetime plane. Less heavy objects with enough speed can orbit around a more heavy one in that warp. Im sure Im misunderstanding spacetime and gravity all together but it seems that a warp in spacetime shouldnt collapse an object onto itself. Im just trying to understand supernovas

[@shawnmarrier6340]

The nuclear fusion in a star causes the sun to want to expand, just as a bomb explodes and expands outward. However the gravity of all that mass is trying to pull said mass as close to a single point as it can. A stable star is one that finds the balance between the push outward and the pull inward. As a star loses it's fuel in the core, the gravity can no longer keep the explosion contained, so it expands and mass is lost to space. The Hydrogen fuel is turned to Helium. A heavier element. So at some point the gravity becomes stronger than the explosion because it has lost so much mass, and the fuel becomes heavier. When gravity becomes so strong it will pull all the mass back to as close as it can to the single point. Well all that created heat and pressure, and if it is a big enough star with a lot of mass, the resulting explosion is a supernovae. So in a space warping understanding, the gravity from all the mass of the star is pulling everything it can to the single point at the bottom of that space time fabric.The explosion from the fusion is pushing it away from that point.

[@anti_fox8987]

Nice video! Small error occured at 4:05 when you say "even the atoms themselves". I am pretty sure you meant "molecules". Anyways, keep on with that good work.

[@frasercain]

Oh, yeah, probably. :-)

[@cbureriu]

what is the source of the magnetic field of magnetars? shouldn't it be neutral since it's made of neutrons ?

[@colinp2238]

When I heard your intro about the horrible places in the Universe I thought that you were talking about my room. Magnetar sounds like a Marvel/DC villain.

[@kellyshea92]

I remember doing alot of reading and research into astronomy growing up and i would have remember something like this. Are these stars a fairly new discovery?

[@kylehazachode]

Thanks for a magnatar episode. I think I asked months ago

[@frasercain]

I'm glad to get to your suggestion. Keep them coming.

[@truckcaptainstumpy1978]

Fraser Cain - the conversation of angular momentum is related to the conflagration of angular momentum, right???? AWESOME VID... i learned something new today

[@MitchCrane]

I think you're conflagrating completely different concepts.

[@MitchCrane]

F'n magnetars. How do they work?

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Very well, thank you.

[@frasercain]

Whoa, take that Bill O'Reilly!

[@MommaWolf1967]

The magnetic field decay powers the emission of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, particularly X-rays and gamma rays Hope this helps to answer your question Mitch Craine

[@HiR0SHi.the.D0G]

Awesome. Rogue magnetars would make great objects to be explored in SciFi series, such as Star Trek. Yet I have never seen a magnetar in SciFi.

[@neumei626]

Another Life on netflix has one! It's actually why I'm here :)

[@The_SCPFoundation]

Fraser Cain, the smallest black hole comes within an au of the biggest magnetar... What happens? Does the black hole get bigger, ejected or an exponentially amplified gravitational force? If the g force is amplified in the black hole, could it reach a level in which it would collapse in on itself and "close"?

[@nikdo5818]

Amazing video! 👏

[@frasercain]

Thanks a lot!

[@edysinsimon8646]

It is thought that a magnetar's "quake" was the cause/effect to earth's electrical grid to "black out" in the 1980s! Not that big of a black out mind you, but from a variation of a nuetron star that had a hissy fit! It was also thought that this magnetar was approximately 50.000 L.Y. away when this event happened! Currently, the known numbers of magnetars in our galaxy is pinned at 15 or so. In our own galaxy only 15 or so known magnetars have been discovered so far...

[@wag-on]

Perhaps the neutrons in a magnetar have been crushed into heavier hadrons (neutrons are composed of 3 quarks: up, down, down), but there are hadrons with heavier quarks: strange & charm / top & bottom which only briefly exist on Earth but may survive under the intense temperature & pressure of degenerated matter. The Magnetar might even be a Q - Star composed entirely of free flowing quarks giving rise to a massive magnetic field! (think of Earth with its liquid magma core and magnetic field vs Mars with none)

[@frasercain]

There could be a few in-between sizes like quark stars, etc.

[@MetalPcAngel]

Ever since I was a little kid, the term Magnetars. . . I always been waiting to use the term for a pokemon name.

[@MitchCrane]

I always think of them as minotaurs that stick to refrigerator doors.

[@frasercain]

Got to catch them all?

[@truckcaptainstumpy1978]

*I always think of them as minotaurs that stick to refrigerator doors* @Mitch ...and do steroids

[@MommaWolf1967]

A magnetar is a type of neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field.

[@DemandAlphabetBeBrokenUp]

Me too...nah not really I played MTG a real man's game.

[@lucarichiisover18]

starquakes? i'd want to see a video about -that!-

[@frasercain]

Will do, I'll add that to the list.

[@mouavang3635]

If u can take out a small piece of neutron star mater. Doe that mater remain Neuton mater once it's away for the influence of gravity, or does it expand into other mater?

[@frasercain]

Neutrons themselves are unstable, so they'd dissipate pretty quickly.

[@TiagoTiagoT]

How dangerous would it be to be near that infamous teaspoon of neutron star matter?

[@awesomefacepalm]

Magnetars are the coolest things in the universe.

[@JesseSteel]

An entire universe of intense chaos. An I’m over here sipping on McDonald’s sweet tea in my rocking chair. Practically a thin layer of glass as an atmosphere. We watch safely from our telescopes. Safer then a blue jay at a traffic stop. Interesting indeed

[@frasercain]

The Universe is a pretty crazy place.

[@novazo1]

who is this guy? I've been seeing his videos popping up lately... I like his vids and finally someone who actually says supernovae right.

[@frasercain]

I'm the publisher of Universe Today, which is a space news website that I've been running for 17 years. I'm also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. In the last few years I've been working to bring the space news to the KZbin. I'm glad my supernovae pronunciation meets your needs, however, I'm guaranteed to mangle "globular clusters".

[@fatheroftwo4865]

@Fraiser or anyone willing to discuss - what if a magnetar moved through our galaxy, having a trajectory towards earth. How do you stop this thing? How do you stop it on it's trajectory anywhere in the universe since you can't get closer than a 1000 miles without being torn apart due to the magnetic field?

[@AzeKannagi]

TDLR: That star gave off an electromagnetic pulse in all directions.

[@frasercain]

Shouldn't that be TLDW?

[@bmartinez7173]

Every time i watch one of this videos i feel depressed, because i remenber that for all we know, nothing is real, we dont watch this stars, we detect things they do, what if quantum physics are wrong, trying to explain things that are billions of kilometers away, for the pursuit of knoledge and wisdom, what if they are all wrong, and outcomes come out the way they are because we are watching them, what if the simple fact that we watch them, changes the outcome, but we should, the purpouse of life is to do this, trying to explain what seems not to have an explenation, is the pursuit of all of this things that make us human, pioneers. Sorry but it's just something i wanted to share, great video Fraser!!!.

[@wildmountainbear9117]

Magnetars Black holes Quasars Hyper Nova They would be a blast to visit😬

[@Gedux25]

Which Black holes or magnetar gravitational pull is stronger?

[@almightythor2674]

As the magnetar turns you to dust best final words... Mr. Stark, I dont feel so good...

[@florin604]

A neutron star has no electrons yet it becomes a magnetar... He still needs some explanation to do

[@gizmoknow-how2022]

Cipi SixZeroFour neutron star does have electrons in it but very very very tightly packed, watch kurzgesagt's video on neutron stars and you'll know.

[@patrickrossi75]

would it be possible that a neutron star in a binary system takes on enough mass from its companion star that a singularity would form at the center with an event horizon wthin the stars radius, basically eating it from inside out?

[@GingoldAnimations]

No longer the DeathStar, it's now the DeathMangnetar!

[@frasercain]

That'll be for the next movie.

[@GingoldAnimations]

Fraser Cain kek

[@sanchezzz69420]

Solar star fusion. Amazing, yet what lies at the bottom of the ocean is still an enigma. We, humans are so misterious.

[@frasercain]

We know more about space than we know about the ocean. :-)

[@reshdil696]

The magnetars are where the universe divided -0

[@frasercain]

Or is that black holes.

[@mattsizzanoname6808]

Mr. Cain you say to send you questions. I was wondering how long it takes for a supernova to happen and be done? Is it over a long period of time or is it an instantaneous explosion? If this is a stupid question than please just ignore? I'd like to see you answer this question but if not I will research it. Thank you sir.

[@adamtschupp9825]

could you stand on a neutron star if you could somehow survive the intense gravity, heat and radiation, would you fall through because neutrons have no electric charge to repel the atoms in your foot?

[@sidgar1]

Assuming you could survive the gravity and radiation, you still wouldn't fall through the crust due to the degeneracy pressure between the neutrons in your atoms and the neutrons in the star.

[@DemandAlphabetBeBrokenUp]

Prove it.

[@tiamacklin9442]

Noneyalls Biddness He/ her already did

[@MikeHornFX]

Delicious Murder Crust... great name for a death metal jam band. Universe Today should make t-shirts.

[@frasercain]

We've already got a fake death metal conspiracy band, Tinfoil Hate. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3W3aat6qdGciZo

[@MikeHornFX]

Saw Tinfoil Hate back in '93, best live show ever. Too bad they broke up after the guitarist got electromagnetic hypersensitivity and went into hiding. Speaking of conspiracies, does anyone else hate how your Google Now news feed results get plagued by stupid alien ufo conspiracy blog posts when all you want is real science space news?

[@brucebanner8660]

Dear Fraser . How close is closest magnetar?

[@wick2894]

What if posted a video about magnetars I was curious so I searched about magnetars . I watched this video and I found out that what if said the same thing as him. I think he watched this vid too

[@frasercain]

Whoa, I'll check it out. I did this video a long time ago. :-)

[@wick2894]

Any ways u explained pretty well I will be waiting for more of ur interesting vids

[@zxwmabcdef5439]

Could a neutron star be used to test weak neutral currents? It looks like neutral currents would rise from the core, loose energy inside the crust, then fall back into the core cooling it. It looks like the gamma ray bursts coming from them could be a strong neutral current hitting the crust.

[@rogermeyersjr]

Can a black hole’s EM field lines get all tangled up worse than a magnetar’s, causing monumental magnetic reconnection outside the event horizon and gargantuan black hole “flares”?

[@frasercain]

Yes, that's why we see the enormous jets coming out of black holes which are actively feeding.

[@rogermeyersjr]

@@frasercain Thanks Fraser!

[@-dimar-]

The universe is a very big prison full of deadly traps. And if you try to escape the universe, you'll just end up in an alternate universe full of deadly traps :-)

[@cmadden4236]

It's a big Minecraft death run

[@Ilikestarwars1245]

It may not be habitable or anything but it does seem like a magnetar is the perfect candidate for a Dyson Sphere type structure

[@frasercain]

Just don't get so close that it tears you apart at an atomic level.

[@atheist4209]

This is way to interesting to watch when you are high

[@frasercain]

Whoa. Dude.

[@parasar_the_destroyer]

the last magnetar star quake was so strong it compressed the earths magnetic field so much that it was deformed..... and scientists say that if that thing happened now we would loose every electronic equipment along with the satellites and our communication would stop for a fairly large time...... so its something to be feared.... and also when the energy is released from a magnetar its so intense energy field that it makes a ripple through the time and space axis hence easily it can create wormholes which can manipulate time and space...

[@frasercain]

There aren't any which are dangerous, but we should definitely learn more about them.

[@elmantv3148]

Sir what's the difference of magnetars and blackholes??👍😊😊

[@frasercain]

Magnetars are a type of neutron star, while black holes are even more dense.

[@WolfOniReadings78933]

When I was younger, there was this really really bright star light in the sky...I live in South Tx, and ever since that time I saw the stars, I've been trying to find out what it was. Any ideas on what that could be?

[@WolfOniReadings78933]

+Rayman711 that's that thing it wasn't. it was way to bright to be a planet.

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

+Snowy The three brightest astronomical objects in our sky, in order, are Sun, Moon, and Venus. If the object was brighter than Venus and you're sure it wasn't the Moon or Sun you might have been looking at an aircraft (balloon or helicopter). If it was moving fast just after sunset or just before sunrise it could have been a satellite, possibily even the ISS. The ISS is still not as bright as Venus.

[@WolfOniReadings78933]

+Lenard Segnitz alright thank you

[@frasercain]

That sounds like Venus to me too. When Venus is at its closest and brightest, it's incredibly bright in the sky.

[@barlart]

Robert L Forward wrote an amazing Sci Fi book about creatures living on the surface of a magnetar. Here: Dragon's Egg is a neutron star with a surface gravity 67 billion times that of Earth, and inhabited by cheela, intelligent creatures the size of a sesame seed who live, think and develop a million times faster than humans. It's quite a book. In a few days, initially with the help of a research ship from earth these creatures go from a hunter gatherer society to far beyond human technology. I won't give any more spoilers but it's an exciting read. Prof Roger Penrose mentioned this book in his "talk" with Dr William Lane Craig the Christian apologist. It was fairly clear that Sir Roger had little time for the Kalam "proof" of god or anything else Dr Craig had to say.

[@j7ndominica051]

What kind of material would be created if neutrons were forcibly removed from a neutron star? What would happen to the remaining star if it lost significant mass?

[@frasercain]

You'd have neutrons, which are actually pretty unstable and would decay.

[@percussion44]

Wal Thornhill in the thunderbolts projects argues that none of this is actually happening. There is no such thing as black holes, neutron stars or even gravity.

[@Monosekist]

What’s this? A new Pokémon?

[@nagualdesign]

_"..a backwater corner of the Milky Way."_ Huh? In what way is the Solar System in a 'backwater corner'?

[@cgaccount3669]

It's not located anywhere special. He was just being colourful and making a joke. With intelligent life the solar system is very special , just not because of our location

[@celiogouvea]

I believe the strong magnetic field is a vortex in space-time generated by the spin.

[@q5sys]

This makes me want to fire up Universe Sandbox ² and see what happens when a magnetar and black hole orbit each other. Sadly... it's just a game so I'll never know.

[@jspin3609]

This might be a crazy-person type question (and I would hate to be 'that guy') but I got to thinking about rotation and was wondering: can space itself rotate faster than the speed of light? Is that even a real and valid question or am I going off a bit here into crazy-land?

[@TiagoTiagoT]

That can happen around rotating blackholes due to an effect called "frame dragging".

[@jspin3609]

Just watched Fraser Cain's video on how fast black holes can spin. Conveniently it answered my question. That is assuming of course that black holes are fastest spinning entities in the universe. I suspect that is the case but don't know. In which case the answer is no - it cannot happen but it can get to 84% the speed of light. Any faster and it exposes the singularity and that breaks physics he says.

[@razi_man]

The literal definition of: "I will stuff you all in the crust!"

[@113chirag5]

Hey! Can you make a video about the size of the ENTIRE universe?

[@frasercain]

Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJW2ZJ5_jNedoZo

[@wknajafi]

do you think that Electric Universe Theory may deserve some consideration and what are its major drawbacks

[@jpaetaa5679]

But if magnetars have such powerfull magnetic field, aren't they attracting objects around them, like asteroids, planets or even stars? Or they dont have such objects orbiting them? Hope you understand what I meant, english is not my main language.

[@frasercain]

A magnetic field drops off significantly over distance, so it's not going to be able to reach very far. Also, remember that it all depends on polarity. Same poles repel, opposite poles attract.

[@jpaetaa5679]

+Fraser Cain Thank you for the answer!

[@unvergebeneid]

Great, and I was told MRI machines are perfectly safe because magnetic fields don't affect people. Now I learn that they can deform my atoms. I'm guessing with a pacemaker, the safe distance to a magnetar is even larger though? Also, remove all keys and other metal objects from your ceramics spaceship?

[@grahamrich9956]

MRI's are a rounding error compared to magnetars.

[@drghost2999]

MRI machine's magnetic field is 10000-30000 Gauss!!

[@unvergebeneid]

Guys ... lighten up a bit.

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

+Penny Lane I'm confused. Are you suggesting we douse ourselves in gasoline and light a match? And here I was imagining we were having a polite discussion.

[@unvergebeneid]

Lenard Segnitz Yeah, sometimes I just snap and want to see the world (and my interlocutors) burn.

[@KMallinson]

Hands up if you thought for an instant he was about to say, "In our next episode: the Magnetar on a direct intercept course to the Sol System.

[@frasercain]

Yikes! Don't worry, there aren't any nearby.