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HIGH-ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS

Ultra-bright and maybe ludicrously magnetic

The discovery of a prominent spectral absorption line in X-rays in an ultra-luminous X-ray source is perhaps indicative of the presence of very intense magnetic fields and hints to a magnetar as its power source.

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Fig. 1: A depiction of an accreting X-ray binary.

adapted from ref. 10, Springer Nature (left) and courtesy of NAOJ (right)

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Correspondence to Matthew G. Baring.

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Baring, M.G. Ultra-bright and maybe ludicrously magnetic. Nat Astron 2, 282–283 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-018-0435-y

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