Spitzer finds Magnetar?

[bobw]

It would have been cool enough just to find one that is still where it is born, but the way they describe the effects of an outburst are just too much. I have thought about a pulse of light going through space like a line segment but I don't know if anyone has ever taken a picture of it before. This may be unique in a lot of ways. Too bad we can't get movies of the light shell.<br /><br />http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/06/050619190747.htm<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Astronomers first saw hints of the infrared echo in strange, tangled dust features that showed up in the Spitzer test image. When they looked at the same dust features again a few months later using ground-based telescopes, the dust appeared to be moving outward at the speed of light. Follow-up Spitzer observations taken one year later revealed the dust was not moving, but was being lit up by passing light.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Maybe it is just me but I think that is the most exciting thing I have read in a long time. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[tom_hobbes]

Looks very similar to the images of V838 Monocerotis, caused by a stellar flashbulb effect of the star in question. Look here for what I mean:<br /><br />http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/10/image/<br /><br />Particularly the image showing the various stages of the 'flash' as it illuminates ever larger swathes of the magnificent nebula around V838 Mon. The successive images, taken over two years I think, are a kind of movie detailing the illumination of an inconceivably large and beautiful structure by a cosmically random event. Thank goodness Hubble was there to capture it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#339966"> I wish I could remember<br /> But my selective memory<br /> Won't let me</font><font size="2" color="#99cc00"> </font><font size="3" color="#339966"><font size="2">- </font></font><font size="1" color="#339966">Mark Oliver Everett</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[bobw]

Thanks Tom<br /><br />I read all the stuff in the left side menu, too. I always thought that the light from the other stuff lasted long enough that the betinning would be past the dust before the pulse ended. Monocerotis always was one of my favorites; now I know what it is <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> Thanks, again. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[tom_hobbes]

Sorry, I didn't mean to be a patronising ass! The effects of the magnetar outburst seemed similar that's all, except at less visible wavelengths...<img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#339966"> I wish I could remember<br /> But my selective memory<br /> Won't let me</font><font size="2" color="#99cc00"> </font><font size="3" color="#339966"><font size="2">- </font></font><font size="1" color="#339966">Mark Oliver Everett</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[bobw]

Really, I didn't read it that way at all. I had fun learning today. Time to go to work. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bobw]

I am sorry for what seems to be some confusion.<br /><br />When I wrote that I read the links too I didn't mean the "related stories" links on science daily. I was referring to the links from HubbleSite. They are interesting and informative.<br /><br /> * Introduction<br /> * Images<br /> * Video<br /> * Fast Facts<br /> * Q & A<br /> * Related Links<br /><br />I think we may have confused each other. Maybe I am still confused <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />I was thinking that things like the ring nebula get their luminosity from shock waves as sequential mass shedding events take place. The magnetar is the first thing of this shape, that I was aware of, which is illuminated by actual light passing through. The flash bulb explaination for Monocerotis was new to me. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[tom_hobbes]

I see! Sorry for the confusion! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#339966"> I wish I could remember<br /> But my selective memory<br /> Won't let me</font><font size="2" color="#99cc00"> </font><font size="3" color="#339966"><font size="2">- </font></font><font size="1" color="#339966">Mark Oliver Everett</font></p><p> </p> </div>