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Nature 455, 477-478 (25 September 2008) | doi:10.1038/455477a; Published online 24 September 2008

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    • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
    • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
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    • Wayne State University
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Astrophysics: How fast can you blink?

Chryssa Kouveliotou1

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Serendipitous observations have revealed fast optical flaring after the onset of X-ray-burst activity from a source in our Milky Way galaxy. It could be the first time this has been observed in a rare kind of neutron star.

Magnetars are slowly rotating neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields. Originally classified as members of two distinct families of astronomical objects, soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs), they were merged into a single class when it was recognized that they share several properties.

  1. Chryssa Kouveliotou is at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 35805, USA.
    Email: chryssa.kouveliotou@nasa.gov

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