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The first magnetar flare detected from another galaxy was tracked to its home

An ultramagnetic stellar corpse sent a blast of light zipping through space

a flare from a magnetar, illustrated

A giant flare from a magnetar (illustrated), a highly magnetized dense stellar remnant, was picked up by space telescopes and tracked back to its home galaxy in April 2020.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Chris Smith/USRA/GESTAR

By Lisa Grossman

- More than 2 years ago

Read another version of this article at Science News Explores

For the first time, astronomers have definitively spotted a flaring magnetar in another galaxy.