I did search before posting this. My apologies if it's a repeat (not intended).
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=25549
Quote:
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a bizarre ring of material around the magnetic remains of a star that blasted to smithereens.
The stellar corpse, called SGR 1900+14, belongs to a class of objects known as magnetars.
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Ah.
That makes it all the more interesting, that it's a magnetar.
This was found accidentally.
Quote:
Wachter and her colleagues think that the ring, which is unlike anything ever seen before, formed in 1998 when the magnetar erupted in a giant flare. They believe the crusty surface of the magnetar cracked, sending out a flare, or blast of energy, that excavated a nearby cloud of dust, leaving an outer, dusty ring. This ring is oblong, with dimensions of about 7 x 3 light years.
It appears to be flat, or two-dimensional, but the scientists said they can't rule out the possibility of a three-dimensional shell.
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30-May-2008, 12:46 PM
Strange ring circles dead magnetar
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