Scientists, including a team from Ireland, have made a breakthrough in understanding a type of star after observing it exhibit a series of flares of light for the first time.
The research team led by scientists at the Astrophysical Institute of Andalucía studied the star, SWIFT J195509+261406, over a three-day period of activity earlier this year.
They believe the stellar object is a magnetar, or young neutron star.
Neutron stars are small, extremely dense, rapidly rotating spheres of neutrons that are created when some of the biggest stars in the universe explode.
They are usually detected by their intense and brief gamma-ray bursting episodes.
But in this case 40 optical flares were observed, followed by a brief, near-infrared flaring episode 11 days later.
The Irish contribution to this discovery came from data taken by a telescope designed, built and operated by staff and students at University College Dublin.
It obtained unique coverage of six of the flaring episodes, including one where the brightness increased by a factor of 100 in two minutes.
Watch a video of an artist's impression of a magnetar
