We saw one of the most powerful magnets in the Universe come to life – and our theories can’t quite explain it

By Marcus Lower, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, CSIRO
Gregory Desvignes, Postdoctoral Researcher, Fundamental Physics in Radio Astronomy, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
Patrick Weltevrede, Lecturer In Pulsar Astrophysics, University of Manchester

After a decade of silence, one of the most powerful magnets in the universe suddenly burst back to life in late 2018. The reawakening of this “magnetar”, a city-sized star named XTE J1810-197 born from a supernova explosion, was an incredibly violent affair.

The snapping and untwisting of the tangled magnetic field released enormous amounts of energy as gamma rays, X-rays and radio waves.

By catching magnetar outbursts like this in action, astronomers are beginning to understand what drives their erratic behaviour. We are also finding potential links to enigmatic

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