Big star magnets would wipe out credit cards
31 January 2005
by Richard
Conan-Davies
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Astronomers from Harvard Univeristy using CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array and Parkes radio telescope in eastern Australia have revealed the most powerful magnets in the universe. These magnetic stars called magnetars, are actually dead stars that are spinning so rapidly that they create a sort of dynamo effect. So powerful is the magentic field that if one of these stars was half way between Earth and the moon all our credit cards and ATM cards would be wipeout on earth. The study was led by Dr. Bryan Gaensler and suggests that heavy stars will form neutron stars spinning at up to 500-1000 times per second. This rapid rotation should power a dynamo and generate super-strong magnetic fields. But usual neutron stars are born spinning at only 50-100 times per second, and don't produce such a big magnetic field Dr. Gaensler explained that "A magnetar goes through a cosmic extreme makeover and ends up very different from its less exotic radio pulsar cousins," |
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