Radiation from Magnetar Explosion

Date: December 27, 2004 • Location: Rome, Italy

Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.

In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes:electromagnetic radiation consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma radiation (γ) particle radiation consisting of particles of non-zero rest energy, such as alpha radiation (α), beta radiation (β), proton radiation and neutron radiation acoustic radiation, such as ultrasound, sound, and seismic waves, all dependent on a physical transmission medium gravitational radiation, in the form of gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime