Astronomers Just Found a Magnetar That Breaks All the Rules

Magnetars are among the most extreme objects in the universe—ultra-dense neutron stars with magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than Earth’s. But a recent discovery is turning our understanding of their origins upside down.

Using data from NASA’s Hubble and ESA’s Gaia space telescopes, scientists traced the motion of a magnetar named SGR 0501+4516—and what they found is shocking. Contrary to long-standing beliefs, this magnetar likely didn’t form from a typical core-collapse supernova.

SGR 0501 sits near a known supernova remnant called HB9, and for years, scientists assumed the two were connected. But precision tracking shows the magnetar couldn’t have come from HB9—or any nearby supernova explosion.

So where did it come from?

Researchers propose a more exotic origin: a white dwarf that collapsed after feeding off a companion star, growing too massive and unstable. This alternative path could form a magnetar without any supernova at all.

If confirmed, SGR 0501+4516 would be the strongest case yet for a magnetar formed through an unconventional route—forcing astronomers to rethink how these magnetic monsters are born and opening new doors in high-energy astrophysics.

RESEARCH
A.A. Chrimes et al., “The infrared counterpart and proper motion of magnetar SGR 0501+4516”, Astronomy & Astrophysics (2025)

Neptune through two cosmic lenses: JWST vs. Hubble
Why do these images of the same planet look so different? Let’s explore

Color Contrast:
Hubble captures Neptune in visible light—just like human eyes. That’s why it appears vibrant blue. That color comes from methane in Neptune’s atmosphere, which absorbs red light and reflects blue back to us.

Infrared Eyes:
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), on the other hand, sees in infrared light, which we can’t see. In its view, Neptune glows white with an icy, ghost-like appearance. That’s because methane absorbs most of the infrared light—except where high-altitude clouds bounce some of it back, making those areas stand out.

And check this out – Neptune’s rings!
JWST revealed Neptune’s faint rings with stunning clarity—better than we’ve seen since Voyager 2 zipped by in 1989. Hubble had a tough time spotting them due to their faintness and distance.

The first Webb image of Neptune was released in September 2022, and it left astronomers in awe with its unmatched detail.

A mind-bending discovery from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is shaking the foundations of modern cosmology—suggesting that our universe may have been born inside a black hole.

The Clue: A Cosmic Rotation Imbalance
While studying early galaxies through the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), astronomers found a strange pattern:
Out of 263 ancient galaxies observed, 66% spin clockwise, and only 34% spin counterclockwise.

In a universe with no preferred direction, we’d expect a 50-50 split. This unexpected bias has scientists thinking: could this be a leftover imprint from the very birth of the universe?

The Theory: A Universe Born from a Black Hole
This observation lines up with an intriguing idea called Schwarzschild cosmology, which proposes:

We Exist Inside a Black Hole:
Our universe could lie within the event horizon of a massive black hole in another, “parent” universe.

Black Holes Create Universes:
In physicist Nikodem Poplawski’s torsion theory, matter doesn’t collapse into a singularity—it gets spun and twisted by extreme gravity, forming an entirely new universe.

The Big Bang Wasn’t the Beginning—It Was a Bounce:
The Big Bang could have been matter rebounding from collapse inside a black hole. The spin of that black hole may have left its fingerprint on the rotation of galaxies in our universe—explaining the JWST’s puzzling spin imbalance.

Skepticism and Alternate Views
Not everyone is convinced. Some researchers suggest the anomaly might be caused by the Milky Way’s own spin influencing JWST’s readings. If that’s true, it may still offer key insights:

We may need to rethink how we measure the cosmos
It might help address big questions like the Hubble tension or the existence of unexpectedly mature galaxies in the early universe

If verified, this could change everything—not only about how we think black holes work, but about how our own universe came to be.

RESEARCH PAPER
Lior Shamir, “The distribution of galaxy rotation in JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey”, MNRAS (2025)

Did Our Universe Begin Inside a Black Hole? A Shocking JWST Discovery Suggests It Might Have

A mind-bending find from the James Webb Space Telescope is shaking up everything we thought we knew about the universe's origin — and pointing to an idea once thought purely theoretical:
We may be living inside a black hole.

The Twist? A Cosmic Rotation Imbalance

Astronomers analyzing deep-space data from JWST’s JADES survey found something strange:
Out of 263 ancient galaxies, 66% rotate clockwise, and only 34% counterclockwise.
In a balanced, directionless universe, that’s a huge red flag — it should be 50/50.

So what could explain this cosmic bias?

A Universe Born From a Black Hole’s Spin

This fits a radical theory called Schwarzschild cosmology, which proposes:
Our universe was born inside a black hole in a parent universe
Black holes don’t end matter — they birth new universes through spin and spacetime torsion
The Big Bang was actually a bounce-back from gravitational collapse, imprinting the parent black hole’s spin onto newborn galaxies

The JWST’s data might be the first observable fingerprint of that ancient spin.

But not everyone’s convinced...

Alternative Theories
Some say this rotation imbalance may be a result of the Milky Way’s own spin skewing our view. If so, we may need to rethink how we:
Measure galactic motion
Solve cosmic puzzles like the Hubble tension and early galaxy formation

Whatever the answer, this discovery could redefine cosmology — showing that black holes may not destroy reality, but create it.

Research by Lior Shamir, MNRAS (2025)

#JWSTDiscovery #BlackHoleUniverse #CosmicRotation #SchwarzschildCosmology #BigBangBounce

Astronomers have discovered SGR 0501+4516, a fast-moving magnetar racing at over 110,000 mph (177,000 km/h). This star, with a magnetic field so powerful it could rip atoms apart, is making scientists rethink everything we know about dead stars. Magnetars, which are the collapsed cores of massive stars, are already some of the densest objects in the universe. But SGR 0501+4516 is breaking all the rules.

First spotted in 2008, about 15,000 light-years away, this zombie star was thought to have come from a typical supernova. But recent data from the Hubble Space Telescope and ESA's Gaia spacecraft show it’s moving way faster than expected — suggesting it didn’t form in the usual way. In fact, it may have formed from the collapse of a white dwarf, a type of star that doesn’t usually create magnetars.

This discovery could also explain some of those mysterious fast radio bursts, intense flashes of radio waves from far-off galaxies. These bursts have baffled scientists because they seem to come from ancient galaxies, yet there are no dead stars around.

SGR 0501+4516’s magnetic field is 100 trillion times stronger than Earth’s. If it passed by Earth at half the distance to the Moon, its field could erase every credit card on the planet. And if a person got too close — within 600 miles — it would tear apart every atom in their body. Luckily, this magnetar is not coming anywhere near us.

This new discovery could change the way we think about magnetars and their role in some of the most powerful cosmic events. There's still much to learn, but this is a huge step forward in understanding the mysteries of the universe.