MAGNETAR A magnetar is a type of neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field. The magnetic field decay powers the emission of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, particularly X-rays and gamma rays. The theory regarding these objects was proposed by Robert Duncan and Christopher Thompson in 1992, but the first recorded burst of gamma rays thought to have been from a magnetar had been detected on March 5, 1979. During the following decade, the magnetar hypothesis has become widely accepted as a likely explanation for soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs). A recent progress in theory suggests that the energy deposition from these magnetars into the expanding supernova remnant could possibly explain few observed cases of unusually bright supernovae. Traditionally such bright events are thought to come from very large stars when they become pair-instability supernova (or pulsational pair-instability supernova). However, two papers published in 2010 by astrophysicists at the University of California Berkeley, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara provided semi-analytical and numerical models to explain some of the brightest events ever seen, such as SN 2005ap and SN 2008es. A research led by Matt Nicholl, of the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen's School of Mathematics and Physics of Queen's University Belfast, the results of which were published on Oct 17, 2013 in Nature, has explained the newly discovered luminous transient PTF 12dam through the same mechanism. Like other neutron stars, magnetars are around 20 kilometres (10 mi) in diameter and have a greater mass than the Sun. The density of the interior of a magnetar is such that a thimble full of its substance would have a mass of over 100 million tons. Magnetars are differentiated from other neutron stars by having even stronger magnetic fields, and rotating comparatively slowly, with most magnetars completing a rotation once every one to ten seconds, compared to less than one second for a typical neutron star. This magnetic field gives rise to very strong and characteristic bursts of X-rays and gamma rays. The active life of a magnetar is short. Their strong magnetic fields decay after about 10,000 years, after which activity and strong X-ray emission cease. Given the number of magnetars observable today, one estimate puts the number of inactive magnetars in the Milky Way at 30 million or more. Starquakes triggered on the surface of the magnetar disturb the magnetic field which encompasses it, often leading to extremely powerful gamma ray flare emissions which have been recorded on Earth in 1979, 1998, and 2004.