StarsNeutron Stars and Pulsars |
What is a magnetar? |
The magnetar phenomenon is a highly energetic, short-lived phase in the lives of a small fraction of all known neutron stars. These “soft gamma repeaters,” as they are also known, are not the so-called gamma-ray bursts; rather, it may be possible that magnetars are what is left after a supernova in a very fast-spinning, high-mass star produces a gamma-ray burst. This hypothesis has yet to be confirmed, however.