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- TL;DR Summary
- Astronomers have recently found the fastest spinning and possibly the youngest magnetar known.
This object, known as J1818.0-1607, is located about 21,000 light years away in the Milky Way galaxy.
The magnetar was discovered already in March 2020, but the below article and accompanying video were released just few days ago, to share more recent follow up observations.
https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2021/j1818
New observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory help support the idea that it is also a pulsar, meaning it emits regular pulses of light.
After follow-up observations, researchers determined that this object, dubbed J1818.0-1607, was special for other reasons. First, it may be the youngest known magnetar, with an age estimated to be about 500 years old. This is based on how quickly the rotation rate is slowing and the assumption that it was born spinning much faster. Secondly, it also spins faster than any previously discovered magnetar, rotating once around every 1.4 seconds.
https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2021/j1818