punchy said:
Even if young earth creationism is false, it seems to at least be logically consistent
Well it's nice to see that Johnny-boy is expanding his horizons from just scamming folks in his web articles and books to now flim-flamming them on video. So maybe Jonathon could pry himself away from his very important work of spreading ignorance to the masses and fly to California and visit this REAL scientist at CalTech and tell him that he's not doing real science. This would be interesting. Hey maybe he can visit with Kerr Metric and tell him the same thing too.
Caltech scientist sees rare `star quake'
By Elise Kleeman, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 04/07/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT
PASADENA - Magnetars are among the rarest objects in the universe. And the oddest.
The collapsed remnants of enormous stars, they have a magnetic field about a million-billion times as strong as Earth's. Though they weigh more than 300,000 times as much as our planet, they are only about 12 miles across.
Astronomers have only discovered 13 magnetars.
It was a stroke of luck, then, that Caltech astrophysicist Michael Muno happened to be watching when the Westerlund 1 magnetar experienced a sudden "star quake."
Only five days earlier, everything had appeared normal when Muno and his colleagues were watching the magnetar, a type of neutron star.
Astronomers detect magnetars by the beam of X-rays they emit. The beam rotates with the star, scanning across the Earth like a lighthouse beacon.
On Sept. 16, the dead star - one of the dimmer magnetars scientists have detected - was quietly rotating once every 10.5 seconds.
But Sept. 21, while Muno and his colleagues had satellite observatories trained once again on Westerlund 1, that all changed. "There was a sudden burst lasting not even a second that was 100,000 times brighter, and then it settled into a state that was 100 times brighter than before," Muno said. "It's been like that since."
As well as increasing in brightness, the magnetar suddenly sprouted two new beams of X-rays and sped up 0.001 percent.
"A change by one part in 10,000 might sound small, but it is actually a huge jump in the rate of spin for such a heavy, compact object," wrote University of Texas at Austin astrophysicist Robert Duncan in an e-mail.
"All these observations, and others by Muno et al, provide fascinating clues about the physics of magnetars," said Duncan, one of the first to theorize about magnetars' existence.
Astrophysicists still aren't sure what causes these stellar outbursts, but think it might be tied to the tug of war between the magnetar's magnetic field and its crusty exterior, Muno said.
For a while, the crust can resist as the magnetic field tries to pull in different directions, he said, but eventually it succumbs and jerks into a new alignment.
Only by analyzing the details of such outbursts will astrophysicists be able to put their theories to the test, however.
"(Muno and his colleagues) have certainly give the theorists a lot to think about," Duncan wrote.
Understanding magnetar dynamics could also provide physicists important clues about matter in extreme conditions.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_5615068