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Magnetar birthday album

Each of these images links to a 1280x1024-pixel JPG ranging in size from 168K to 522K bytes. Use and distribution of these images is encouraged. Please credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center and, where indicated, additional sources as noted in each caption. The 1280x1024 format was set for a Focus Imagecorder Plus. Some images are available in larger formats, or (in the cases of the graphs, neutron star cross-sections, and orbital plot) as Illustrator files. For additional information, contact Dave Dooling. Return to the Magnetar birthday story.

March 16, 1999: Fixed small errors in slides marked *. Added pictures at bottom of Dr. Chryssa Kouvelitou.

Location of SGR 1627-41 in the galactic plane. The Milky Way is depicted through the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment carried by the Cosmic Background Explorer. The locations of known magnetar candidates - Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters and Anomalous X-ray Pulsars - in the Milky Way. The presumed location of SGR 1627-41 as "boxed in" by observations with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), and the Interplanetary Network (IPN). SGR 1900+14 as seen by Japan's Advnaced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics. SGR 1900+14 as seen by the Italian-Dutch Beppo SAX small astronomy satellite before and after the August 1998 burst event. A different view from Beppo SAX of SGR 1900+14. The steps in making an neutron star (including magnetars): A massive star explodes, blowing off the shell and compressing the core. * Even though film was not used, it makes a great metaphor for a sequence of images depicting an SGR/magnetar outburst. Credit: Dr. Robert Mallozzi, University of Alabama in Huntsville and NASA/Marshall. The geometry of a pulsar and its magnetosphere. Cross-sectional diagram of a neutron star depicting its crust and liquid interior. Cross-sectional diagram, with simpler labels, of a neutron star depicting its crust and liquid interior. Cross-sectional diagram of a magnetar in the first seconds of life after a supernova. This complex graph shows the major SGR outbursts since 1979, and the periods when satellites were observing (top). Another complex graph shows the separate burst histories of the four SGRs along the same time line. The life cycle of magnetars showing rotational period (top), burst activity (middle), and life phases (bottom). The rotation and burst charts are qualitative since no models are mature enough to assign values. The pulsar rotational period stands out clearly in this plot of the August 1998 event as recorded by the burst detector on the Ulysses probe. Credit: Kevin Hurley, University of California at Berkeley, and NASA/Marshall. Relative locations in the solar system of spacecraft that detected the August 1998 SGR event. * Major observatories used in observing magnetars and other energetic objects. (Note: Chandra, far right, is set for launch in summer 1999.) A qualitative depiction of the electromagnetic spectrum shows where gamma rays fit relative to what the human eye can see. Artist's concept depicts afront of gamma radiation from a burst sweeping over the Earth and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Credit: Dr. Robert Mallozzi, University of Alabama in Huntsville and NASA/Marshall. Also available is 2,048x1,536-pixel, 356K JPG. (deliberately left blank) Dr. Chryssa Kouveliotou of Universities Space Research Association, working at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. She is shown in the data control room for the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Links to 1280x1024-pixel, 407K JPG. Also available, 3024x2114-pixel, 1.1M JPG. Credit: Fred Deaton, NASA/Marshall. Dr. Chryssa Kouveliotou of Universities Space Research Association, working at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. She is shown in the data control room for the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Links to 1280x1024-pixel, 407K JPG. Also available, 3024x2114-pixel, 935K JPG. Credit: Fred Deaton, NASA/Marshall. Dr. Chryssa Kouveliotou of Universities Space Research Association, working at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. She is shown in the data control room for the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Links to 1280x1024-pixel, 407K JPG. Also available, 3024x2114-pixel, 700K JPG. Credit: Fred Deaton, NASA/Marshall.