And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. Genesis 1:16
"Magnetars are neutron stars with magnetic fields that are about a 
quadrillion times greater than the magnetic field of Earth.
These huge magnetic fields are thought to be produced when an rapidly
rotating neutron star is formed by the collapse of the core of a
massive star.
Magnetars emit bright X-rays and show erratic periods of activity,
with the emission of bursts and flares which can release in just one
second an amount of energy millions of times greater than our Sun emits
in one year.
Using the IXPE observatory, University of Padova astrophysicist Roberto Taverna detected polarized X-rays from 4U 0142+61, a magnetar located some 13,000 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia.
They found a much lower proportion of polarized light than would be expected if the X-rays passed through an atmosphere.
They also found that, for particles of light at higher energies, the
angle of polarization flipped by exactly 90 degrees compared to light at
lower energies, following what theoretical models would predict if the
star had a solid crust surrounded by an external magnetosphere filled
with electric currents.
“This was completely unexpected. I was convinced there would be an
atmosphere,” said University College London’s Professor Silvia Zane.
“The star’s gas has reached a tipping point and become solid in a
similar way that water might turn to ice. This is a result of the star’s
incredibly strong magnetic field.”
“But, like with water, temperature is also a factor — a hotter gas will require a stronger magnetic field to become solid.”
“The most exciting feature we could observe is the change in
polarization direction with energy, with the polarization angle swinging
by exactly 90 degrees,” Dr. Taverna said.
“The polarization at low energies is telling us that the magnetic
field is likely so strong to turn the atmosphere around the star into a
solid or a liquid, a phenomenon known as magnetic condensation,” said
University of Padova’s Professor Roberto Turolla.
“The solid crust of the star is thought to be composed of a lattice
of ions, held together by the magnetic field. The atoms would not be
spherical, but elongated in the direction of the magnetic field.”" SciNews
