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Chinese astronomy satellite discovers strongest magnetic field found in the universe so far
- Researchers say it was detected on the surface of a neutron star more than 22,000 light years from Earth
- It was found by the most powerful high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit, Insight-HXMT
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A Chinese astronomy satellite has discovered the strongest magnetic field yet found in the universe, according to a team of researchers.
They said the field – with a strength of 1.6 billion tesla – was detected on the surface of a neutron star more than 22,000 light years from Earth, called Swift J0243.6+6124.
It was discovered by the Chinese space telescope Insight-HXMT, which is based on a satellite.
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Tesla is the unit of field intensity for magnetic fields. The average field on the surface of the Earth is about 0.00005 tesla – meaning the magnetic field on the neutron star is some 32 trillion times as strong as that of the Earth.
The discovery surpasses a previous record of 1 billion tesla on another neutron star – detected by the same astronomy satellite – and suggests pulsars have complex magnetic field structures.
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China’s Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope, or Insight-HXMT, was launched in 2017. It is the most powerful high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit.
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