Using multiple telescopes around the world, astronomers from the University of Amsterdam and elsewhere have identified a powerful magnetic field in the Wolf-Rayet star HD 45166, that is likely to become a magnetar.
Key points
- This finding marks the discovery of a new type of astronomical object—massive magnetic helium stars—and sheds light on the origin of magnetars.
- Magnetars are neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields, the origin of which is debated.
- One possibility is amplification of a magnetic field in the core of the parent star, which produces the neutron star during a supernova explosion.
- Researchers used spectropolarimetry to identify a high magnetic field in a Wolf-Rayet, the exposed helium core of a star that has lost its outer layers of hydrogen.
- The mass of the Wolf-Rayet is high enough that it will produce a neutron star in a supernova, and the field is sufficiently strong to generate a magnetar during core collapse.
- Massive stars which are at an advanced stage of stellar evolution and losing mass at a very high rate are known as Wolf-Rayet stars.
- With masses typically greater than 25 times that of the Sun, they have brief lifetimes and are therefore quite rare objects.
