A magnetar is a type of neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field (~109 to 1011 T, ~1013 to 1015 G). The magnetic-field decay powers the emission of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, particularly X-rays and gamma rays.
Messier 62 or M62, also known as NGC 6266 or the Flickering Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of stars in the south of the equatorial constellation of Ophiuchus. It was discovered in 1771 by Charles Messier, then added to his catalogue eight years later.
GCRT J1745−3009 is a Galactic Center radio transient (GCRT), or bursting low-frequency radio source which lies in the direction of the Galactic Center.
Cygnus X-3 is a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB), one of the stronger binary X-ray sources in the sky. It is often considered to be a microquasar, and it is believed to be a compact object in a binary system which is pulling in a stream of gas from an ordinary star companion. It is one of only two known HMXBs containing a Wolf–Rayet star. It is invisible visually, but can be observed at radio, infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths.
Nu Centauri, Latinized from ν Centauri, is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. The combined apparent visual magnitude of the pair is +3.41, making this one of the brightest members of the constellation. Based upon parallax measurements made during the Hipparcos mission, this star system is located at a distance of roughly 437 light-years from Earth. The margin of error for this distance is about 2%, which is enough to give an error in distance of ±10 light years.
LS I +61 303 is a binary system containing a massive star and a compact object. The compact object is a pulsar and the system is around 7,000 light-years away.
SGR 1627−41, is a soft gamma repeater (SGR), located in the constellation of Ara. It was discovered June 15, 1998 using the Burst and transient Source Experiment (BATSE) and was the first soft gamma repeater to be discovered since 1979. During a period of 6 weeks, the star bursted approximately 100 times, and then went quiet. The measured bursts lasted an average of 100 milliseconds, but ranged from 25 ms to 1.8 seconds. SGR 1627−41 is a persistent X-ray source. It is located at a distance of 11 kpc in the radio complex CTB 33, a star forming region that includes the supernova remnant G337.0-0.1.
HD 131664 is an 8th magnitude star in the southern constellation of Apus with an orbiting brown dwarf or stellar companion. Parallax measurements by the Gaia space observatory provide an estimated distance of 172.5 light years from the Earth. The system is moving further away with a baseline heliocentric radial velocity of +35 km/s.
RRAT J1819-1458 is a Milky Way neutron star and the best studied of the class of rotating radio transients (RRATs) first discovered in 2006.
A large quasar group (LQG) is a collection of quasars that form what are thought to constitute the largest astronomical structures in the observable universe. LQGs are thought to be precursors to the sheets, walls and filaments of galaxies found in the relatively nearby universe.
Time-domain astronomy is the study of how astronomical objects change with time. Though the study may be said to begin with Galileo's Letters on Sunspots, the term now refers especially to variable objects beyond the Solar System. Changes over time may be due to movements or changes in the object itself. Common targets included are supernovae, pulsating stars, novas, flare stars, blazars and active galactic nuclei. Visible light time domain studies include OGLE, HAT-South, PanSTARRS, SkyMapper, ASAS, WASP, CRTS, GOTO and in a near future the LSST at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
In radio astronomy, a fast radio burst (FRB) is a transient radio pulse of length ranging from a fraction of a millisecond, for an ultra-fast radio burst, to 3 seconds, caused by some high-energy astrophysical process not yet understood. Astronomers estimate the average FRB releases as much energy in a millisecond as the Sun puts out in three days. While extremely energetic at their source, the strength of the signal reaching Earth has been described as 1,000 times less than from a mobile phone on the Moon.
SGR J1745−2900, or PSR J1745−2900, is the first-discovered magnetar orbiting the black hole Sagittarius A*, in the center of the Milky Way. The magnetar was discovered in 2013 using the Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope, the Nancay Decimetric Radio Telescope, and the Jodrell Bank Lovell Telescope. The magnetar has a period of 3.76 s and a magnetic flux density of ~ 1010 T (1014 G). The magnetar is 0.33 ly from the central black hole.
U Lacertae is a spectroscopic binary star in the constellation Lacerta.
In astronomy, a fast blue optical transient (FBOT), or more specifically, luminous fast blue optical transient (LFBOT), is an explosive transient event similar to supernovae and gamma-ray bursts with high optical luminosity, rapid evolution, and predominantly blue emission. The origins of such explosions are currently unclear, with events occurring at not more than 0.1% of the typical core-collapse supernova rate. This class of transients initially emerged from large sky surveys at cosmological distances, yet in recent years a small number have been discovered in the local Universe, most notably AT 2018cow.
PHL 293B, also known as Kinman's dwarf, is a low-metallicity blue compact dwarf galaxy about 22.6 Mpc from the Earth in the constellation Aquarius.
GPM J1839−10 is a potentially unique ultra-long period magnetar located about 15,000 light-years away from Earth in the Scutum constellation, in the Milky Way. It was discovered by a team of scientists at Curtin University using the Murchison Widefield Array. Its unusual characteristics violate current theory and prompted a search of other radio telescope archives, including the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and the Very Large Array, which revealed evidence of the object dating back to 1988. The signature of the object went unnoticed because scientists did not know to look for its unusual behavior.
