Magnetars: A missing link

Astronomers have found evidence suggesting that a rare group of ultradense stars are magnetars–the objects with the strongest magnetic fields known in the universe.

MAGNETIC INTENSITY. Artist’s view of a magnetar–a rare, ultradense star. Robert Mallozzi, Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

According to theory, these enormous fields–100 trillion to 1 quadrillion gauss–are generated within ultradense neutron stars.