What is a Magnetar? A magnetar is a type of neutron star with an
extremely powerful magnetic field, the decay of which powers the
emission of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, particularly
X-rays and gamma rays.1 On March 5, 1979, several months after
dropping probes into the toxic atmosphere of Venus, two Soviet
spacecraft, Venera 11 and 12, were drifting through the inner
solar system on an elliptical orbit. It had been an uneventful
cruise. The radiation readings on board both probes hovered
around a nominal 100 counts per second. But at 10:51AM EST, a
pulse of gamma radiation hit them. Within a fraction of a
millisecond, the radiation level shot above 200,000 counts per
second and quickly went off scale. Eleven seconds later gamma
rays swamped the NASA space probe Helios 2, also orbiting the
sun. A plane wave front of high-energy radiation was evidently
sweeping through the solar system. It soon reached Venus and
saturated the Pioneer Venus Orbiter’s detector. Within seconds
the gamma rays reached Ea