SGR 1627−41, is a

soft gamma repeater A soft gamma repeater (SGR) is an astronomical object which emits large bursts of gamma-rays and X-rays at irregular intervals. It is conjectured that they are a type of magnetar or, alternatively, neutron stars with fossil disks around them. Hi ...

(SGR), located in the constellation of

Ara ARA may refer to: Media and the arts * American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences * '' Artistička Radna Akcija'', compilation album released in former Yugoslavia * Associate of the Royal Academy, denoting membership in the British Royal Aca ...

. 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 An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

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 A supernova remnant (SNR) is the structure resulting from the explosion of a star in a supernova. The supernova remnant is bounded by an expanding shock wave, and consists of ejected material expanding from the explosion, and the interstellar mat ...

G337.0-0.1. This object is believed to be a

neutron star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. w ...

that undergoes random outbursts of hard and soft X-rays. This may be caused by the loss of angular momentum of a highly magnetized neutron star, or

magnetar 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.War ...

. Alternatively, it may be a

quark star A quark star is a hypothetical type of compact, exotic star, where extremely high core temperature and pressure has forced nuclear particles to form quark matter, a continuous state of matter consisting of free quarks. Background Some massive ...

, although this is considered less likely. After the 1998 outburst and the 40-day afterglow, SGR 1627−41 has remained dormant and is steadily cooling down from the peak during the event.

References

XMM-Newton observation of the Soft Gamma Ray Repeater SGR 1627−41 in a low luminosity state
{{DEFAULTSORT:SGR 1627-41 Ara (constellation) Radio-quiet neutron stars Pulsars Soft gamma repeaters Magnetars