Topic
Neutron stars with the strongest magnetic fields known, which power X-ray and gamma-ray outbursts and are candidate sources of fast radio bursts.
Astronomers led by Manisha Caleb report FRB 20240304B, the most distant fast radio burst yet, emitted about 3 billion years after the Big Bang. Its host is a dwarf galaxy 1,000 times less massive than expected, and the team favors a magnetar as the source.
Reality
Astronomers attribute EP250704a, a half-second gamma-ray burst followed by 10 minutes of X-rays, to two neutron stars colliding. The event gives them a test case for the hundreds of X-ray flashes Einstein Probe has logged since its 2024 launch, some of them still unexplained.
Reality
MeerKAT and JWST traced fast radio burst FRB 20240304B to a galaxy seen 3 billion years after the Big Bang, more than doubling the distance record. The small, star-forming host is one data point for young magnetars as the source of at least some of these flashes.
Perspective Coverage
5 publishersReality
Astronomers led by Benjamin Gompertz found GRB 220706A's central engine still flaring 27 rest-frame days after the burst, about 20 days past the old record. In their preprint, black hole accretion and magnetar models both have to be stretched to explain an engine that ran that long.
Reality
Einstein Probe saw a likely neutron star merger shine in soft X-rays for nearly 10 minutes after a 0.4-second gamma-ray burst. Its team argues gamma-ray detectors alone may have missed this phase in earlier mergers, a case that so far rests on one event.
Reality
Einstein Probe recorded nearly ten minutes of X-ray light from a July 2025 neutron-star merger whose gamma-ray burst lasted about half a second. The team links the long glow to a newborn magnetar, a reading that so far rests on this single event.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishersReality