Neutron stars spin very fast. The magnetic field of magnetars, however, is believed to be so powerful that it slows down the spin, tearing at the star’s crust and producing powerful bursts of radiation, x-ray and gamma-rays in particular.

Thanks to its design and performance, ASIM was able to record this gamma-ray photon outburst at extremely high speeds.

The measurements revealed unexpected, periodic “flickering” of the photon burst that will help to shed light on the physics of magnetars and the structure of neutron stars in general, one of the hottest topics in current research. The results were published in the December issue of Nature magazine.