'Amazingly, Hubble was able to take an image only three days after the burst.'
"We know that magnetars exist because we see them in our galaxy," lead study author and Northwestern astronomer Wen-fai Fong. "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."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.. "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.
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