Scientists discover starquake in space outside Milky Way

Astronomers have discovered a new magnetic star that became visible to the experts after a bright explosion outside our Milky Way galaxy at a distance of roughly 12 million light-years from Earth.

The star is in the M82 galaxy, according to Live Science report, which is also called magnetar because of its strong magnetic field. It is said to be once glowing star which was spotted using the European Space Agency (ESA) telescope.

The research published in the journal Nature Wednesday noted that it was caught by the telescope after it emitted energy violently.

Such stellar objects are very powerful because of their magnetism and are rapidly moving neutron stars that result after start complete their life cycle and end their last stage.

The brightness of such unpredictable events is estimated to be a thousand times more than that of our Sun.

In the past 50 years, according to the outlet, only three such flares were recorded.

Ashley Chrimes, an ESA researcher said in a statement: "If we can find many more, we can start to understand how often these flares happen and how these stars lose energy in the process."

The lead author of the study Sandro Mereghetti said: "We immediately realised that this was a special alert."

Mereghetti, who is a researcher at the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy, added: "Gamma-ray bursts come from far away and anywhere in the sky, but this burst came from a bright nearby galaxy."

The report quoting astronomers stated: "The starquake was caused when a magnetar's intense magnetic fields found their way out the star's spin, disrupting outer layers, and cracking the star's surface."