---
title: "Scientists Are Pretty Sure They Just Saw Two Stars Crash Into Each Other"
description: "Scientists quickly set their sights on an unusual neutron star merger that had an explosion ten times more powerful than expected and created a magnetar."
date: "2020-11-12"
modified: "2020-11-12"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/stars-crash-into-each-other"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "magnetar"
  - "neutron star"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Are Pretty Sure They Just Saw Two Stars Crash Into Each Other

![Scientists quickly set their sights on an unusual neutron star merger that had an explosion ten times more powerful than expected and created a magnetar.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/astronomers-watched-two-neutron-stars-collided.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick\</em\>*

## Big Boom

After an onslaught of gamma rays reached astronomers' telescopes in May, they rushed to train more instruments on what they assumed was a merger of two neutron stars.

The resulting explosion was ten times stronger than they expected, [according to *Space.com*](<https://www.space.com/extra-bright-kilonova-from-neutron-star-collision>). As a result, the [Northwestern University-led research](<https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.08593>), set to be published in *The* *Astrophysical Journal*, concludes that the astronomers observed the very rare birth of a type of dead star called a magnetar.

## Unusual Fusion

Neutron stars are the extremely dense remnants of dead stars that detonated in a supernova but weren't quite large enough to collapse into a new black hole. Magnetars are a [class of neutron star](<https://futurism.com/what-are-magnetars>) known for producing the [most powerful magnetic fields](<https://www.nasa.gov/missions/deepspace/f_magnetars.html>) in the universe.

"We know that magnetars exist because we see them in our galaxy," lead study author and Northwestern astronomer Wen-fai Fong [said in a press release](<https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2020/11/birth-of-magnetar-from-colossal-collision-potentially-spotted-for-first-time/&fj=1>). "We think most of them are formed in the explosive deaths of massive stars, leaving these highly magnetized neutron stars behind. However, it is possible that a small fraction form in neutron star mergers. We have never seen evidence of that before, let alone in infrared light, making this discovery special."

## Fastest Gun

The unusual discovery comes from the fact that the scientists were extremely quick-fingered with their instruments. Had they been slower, they might have missed the show altogether.

"Amazingly, Hubble was able to take an image only three days after the burst," Fong [said in a different release](<https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2020-29>). "When Hubble looked again at 16 days and 55 days, we knew we had not only nabbed the fading \[merger\], but that we had also discovered something very unusual."

**READ MORE:** [Scientists spot a 'kilonova' flash so bright they can barely explain it](<https://www.space.com/extra-bright-kilonova-from-neutron-star-collision>) \[*Space.com*\]

**More on magnetars:** *[A Dead Star Gave Off Something Scientists Have Never Seen Before](<https://futurism.com/fast-radio-burst-magnetar-x-ray>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)