Earth & SkyGreek → English
Magnetar
/ˈmæɡnɪtɑːr/noun
A neutron star with a magnetic field strong enough to power bursts of X-rays and gamma rays.
The Greek roots
μαγνῆτις
magnḗtis
Magnesian, of Magnesia
Literally: “Magnesian-stone star”
Follow a root:μαγνῆτις2 words
The story of the word
Robert Duncan and Christopher Thompson coined the name in 1992 for magnetic star. The magnet half traces back to ἡ Μαγνῆτις λίθος, the stone of Magnesia, a district of Thessaly where lodestone was found; magnesium and manganese come from the same place name by separate routes. A magnetar's field would wipe a credit card from halfway to the Moon.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1992
Same family
magnetmagnesiummanganese
In a sentence
A magnetar flare in 2004 measurably disturbed Earth's ionosphere from fifty thousand light years away.