{"id":46475,"date":"2026-03-11T19:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=46475"},"modified":"2026-03-11T19:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:43:11","slug":"ultra-bright-supernova-wobbles-like-a-spinning-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=46475","title":{"rendered":"Ultra-bright supernova wobbles like a spinning top"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<ul class=\"c-article-identifiers\" data-test=\"article-identifier\">\n<li class=\"c-article-identifiers__item\" data-test=\"article-category\"><span class=\"c-article-identifiers__type\">NEWS AND VIEWS<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"c-article-identifiers__item\">11 March 2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n                    Oscillations in the brightness of a \u2018superluminous\u2019 supernova reveal it to be powered by a magnetized neutron star that distorts the orbit of surrounding gas.\n                <\/p>\n<p>                <span>By<\/span><\/p>\n<ol class=\"c-article-authors-listing u-list-reset\">\n<li class=\"c-article-authors-listing__item\">\n<p>                    <span class=\"c-article-authors-search__title u-h3 js-search-name\">Adam Ingram<\/span><\/p>\n<ol class=\"c-article-author-affiliation__list u-list-reset\">\n<li id=\"Aff0\">\n<p class=\"c-article-author-affiliation__address\">Adam Ingram is in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"article__teaser\">When a star reaches the end of its life, it sometimes goes out with a bang: an explosion, called a supernova, that is brighter than a billion Suns. The outer layers of the star are violently thrown into space and the core collapses into an incredibly dense \u2018compact object\u2019: either a neutron star or a black hole. The explosion first brightens rapidly, before gradually fading as the ejected layers expand and cool. Over the past 20 years, astronomers have catalogued a population of unusually bright \u2014 or superluminous \u2014 supernovae1. However, the extra energy source required for this brightness has not been clear. Writing in Nature, Farah et al.2 report observations of a superluminous supernova called 2024afav, which was detected using telescopes around the world almost continuously for six months. The authors uncovered fluctuations in the brightness of the supernova, which indicate that it is powered by a highly magnetized, rapidly spinning compact star called a magnetar.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"c-article-section__title u-h2 u-mb-16\" id=\"access-options\">Access options<\/h2>\n<p class=\"title-buybox\">\n        Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals\n      <\/p>\n<p class=\"access-buybox\">\n        Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription\n      <\/p>\n<p class=\"price-buybox\" id=\"nature-plus-subscription-price\">\n          <span class=\"price-value\">$32.99<span class=\"price-per-period\" style=\"font-size: 0.9rem\"> \/\u00a030\u00a0days<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"issue-buybox\">cancel any time<\/p>\n<p class=\"title-buybox\">Subscribe to this journal<\/p>\n<p class=\"access-buybox\">\n        Receive 51 print issues and online access\n      <\/p>\n<p class=\"price-buybox\" id=\"subscription-price\">$199.00 per year<\/p>\n<p class=\"issue-buybox\">only $3.90 per issue<\/p>\n<p class=\"title-readcube\">Rent or buy this article<\/p>\n<p class=\"access-readcube\">Prices vary by article type<\/p>\n<p id=\"readcube-price\" class=\"price-buybox\"><span class=\"price-info-text\">from<\/span>$1.95<\/p>\n<p class=\"price-buybox-to\"><span class=\"price-info-text\">to<\/span>$39.95<\/p>\n<p class=\"tax-buybox\">Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"c-access-options__heading\">Additional access options:<\/h3>\n<p><em>Nature<\/em> <strong>651<\/strong>, 312-313 (2026)<\/p>\n<p><em>doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/d41586-026-00490-3<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"c-article-section__title js-section-title\" id=\"Bib1\">References<\/h2>\n<ol class=\"c-article-references\" data-track-component=\"outbound reference\" data-track-context=\"references section\">\n<li class=\"c-article-references__item js-c-reading-companion-references-item\" data-counter=\"1.\">\n<p class=\"c-article-references__text\" id=\"ref-CR1\">Richardson, D. et al. Astron. J. 123, 745 (2002).<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-references__links u-hide-print\">Article\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    Google Scholar\u00a0\n                <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"c-article-references__item js-c-reading-companion-references-item\" data-counter=\"2.\">\n<p class=\"c-article-references__text\" id=\"ref-CR2\">Farah, J. R. et al. Nature 651, 321\u2013325 (2026).<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-references__links u-hide-print\">Article\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    Google Scholar\u00a0\n                <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"c-article-references__item js-c-reading-companion-references-item\" data-counter=\"3.\">\n<p class=\"c-article-references__text\" id=\"ref-CR3\">Gal-Yam, A. Annu. Rev. Astron. 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Lett. 106, 221101 (2011).<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-references__links u-hide-print\">Article\u00a0<br \/>\n    PubMed\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    Google Scholar\u00a0\n                <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"c-article-references__download u-hide-print\">Download references<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"c-article-competing-interests__title\">Competing Interests<\/h2>\n<p>The author declares no competing interests.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"small-space-below temporary-class-to-handle-titles-visibility u-hide-print\" id=\"related-articles\">Related Articles<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"small-space-below temporary-class-to-handle-titles-visibility u-hide-print\" id=\"subjects\">Subjects<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"c-article-subjects u-clearfix u-hide-print\">\n<li class=\"c-article-subjects__item\">\n                Astronomy and astrophysics\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"c-article-latest-content__title\" id=\"tablist-heading\">Latest on:<\/h2>\n<ul id=\"latest-content\" class=\"cleared u-clean-list\" aria-labelledby=\"tablist-heading\">\n<li id=\"latest-content-0\" class=\"c-latest-content__container\" data-container=\"\">\n                Astronomy and astrophysics\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEWS AND VIEWS 11 March 2026 Oscillations in the brightness of a \u2018superluminous\u2019 supernova reveal it to be powered by a magnetized neutron star that distorts the orbit of surrounding gas. By Adam Ingram Adam Ingram is in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK. When a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[12467,23723,1168,23722,23724],"class_list":{"0":"post-46475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-spinning","9":"tag-supernova","10":"tag-top","11":"tag-ultrabright","12":"tag-wobbles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}