Scientists using NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer conducted more than 140 hours of observations of the magnetar 1E 1547-5408 between March and April 2025. The observations may have captured behavior in empty space that physicists have predicted for nine decades but never directly observed.
Magnetars are a special class of neutron stars distinguished by their extraordinarily powerful magnetic fields. These objects possess the strongest magnetic fields of any known entity in the observable universe, with strengths around a trillion times greater than the most potent permanent magnets created on Earth.