magnetar

Fast radio bursts emit as much energy in a few milliseconds as the Sun does in days, yet last only briefly and come from across the universe. Their origin remained hidden for 17 years until a breakthrough discovery revealed that repeating FRBs originate from magnetars.

A magnetar is a neutron star with the strongest magnetic field known — lethal from 1,000 km away. Here is how magnetars form, why they erupt in giant flares, and how one was caught producing a fast radio burst in 2020.