This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way,

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This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way, or to imply the endorsement by ESO of any product, service or activity SWIFT J195509+261406 magnetar. Computer illustration of the possible magnetar SWIFT J195509+261406. This object showed intense flaring, emitting 40 visible-light flashes over a three day period before disappearing again. Magnetars are young neutron stars with an ultra-strong magnetic field a billion times stronger than that of the Earth. The twisting of magnetic field lines (white lines) in magnetars give rise to 'starquakes', which will eventually lead to an intense soft gamma-ray burst. It is thought that the optical flares that reached the Earth were probably due to ions ripped out from the surface of the magnetar and gyrating around the field lines.

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