Never-seen signals from a super-magnetic star. Study will shed new light on extreme and unusual astrophysical phenomena, such as fast radio bursts and X-ray and gamma-ray bursts.
The magnetar XTE J1810-197, about 8,000 light-years away, is the closest such star to Earth. A radio signal from it was first observed in 2003, and it then remained silent until 2018, when radio signals were detected again, sparking the Australian study led by Marcus Lower.