Magnetar Giant Flare GRB 200415A (VIDEO)

University of Johannesburg

Caption

(90 second, 9.5MB video) On April 15 2020, a giant wave of X-rays and gamma rays lasting only a fraction of a second swept across the solar system, triggering detectors on NASA and European spacecraft. The GRB 200415A event was a giant flare from a magnetar, a type of city-sized neutron star that boasts the strongest magnetic fields known. Prof Soebur Razzaque from the University of Johannesburg shares what happens during a giant flare, and how these powerful explosions can tell us more about the history of the universe.

Credit

Animation: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA/GESTAR). Video: Therese van Wyk, University of Johannesburg.

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