starquake

[stahr-kweyk]

noun

Astronomy.

1. a rapid change in the mass distribution or shape of a pulsar, resulting in a fluctuation of the pulsar's pulse rate or radiation intensity.

Word History and Origins

Origin of starquake¹

First recorded in 1965–70; star + (earth)quake

Example Sentences

"It was theoretically considered that the surface of a magnetar could be experiencing a starquake, an energy release similar to earthquakes on Earth," said Professor Tomonori Totani from the Department of Astronomy at the Graduate School of Science.

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Most ideas posit some kind of jarring starquake occurring on the object or perhaps a strong spark shooting out when its twisting magnetic field lines snap and reconnect.

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"One idea about the source of these outbursts is that something happening inside the magnetar — such as a 'starquake,' analogous to an earthquake — could crack its surface and release energy."

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And occasionally, maybe once per century or maybe only once ever, that strained surface might undergo a sudden snap: a starquake that would rearrange as big a fraction of a neutron star’s surface, Thompson says, as an earthquake swapping California and New York.

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Another Milky Way flash, whenever it comes, might help, too; its initial rise would still swamp sensitive gamma detectors, but today’s gravitational wave detectors might be able to pick up ripples in spacetime from the starquake itself, offering more clues to what actually happens on the surface of the star.

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