A
ghostly ring stretches seven light-years around the corpse of a massive star, as
seen by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.
Collapsed
stars known as "magnetars" form in the wake of a supernova explosion, which
leaves an incredibly dense neutron star with a powerful magnetic field. The
ring spotted by Spitzer likely formed from the edges of a bubble that was
hollowed out by the explosive burst from the magnetar in 1998.
The
very bright region near the center of the image is a nursery of young stars. Magnetar
SGR 1900+14 also lies at the center of the image, but is not visible in this
infrared view. However, magnetars are visible in X-ray light.
— NASA/JPL-Caltech and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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