Having a stellar partner might allow a dying star to become a magnetar — the strongest known magnet in the Universe — instead of a black hole.
Large stars usually form black holes when they die, so astronomers have wondered why some become magnetars, an unusual kind of neutron star. Simon Clarke of the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, and his colleagues used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope to study the Westerlund 1 star cluster, which includes a magnetar.
They found a star that they say was probably the companion to the one that formed the magnetar. The two orbited each other closely, and as the larger one began to die, it transferred its outer layers to the smaller star. This made the small star rotate more rapidly, eventually creating an ultra-strong magnetic field.
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Star partners form strongest magnet. Nature 509, 402 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/509402b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/509402b
