A star that could become the strongest magnet in the universe has been discovered by astronomers. The star, named HD 45166, is a giant helium-rich star that is several times larger than the sun and is located 3,000 light years away from Earth. It was spotted from several telescopes from all over the planet. HD 45166 has a remarkable feature: it has the most powerful magnetic field ever detected in a massive star – 43,000 gauss, to be precise. The star is also part of a binary system, meaning that it has another star orbiting around it. But what makes HD 45166 even more interesting is what will happen to it when it dies. Astronomers believe that if it's is indeed on course to collapse into a neutron star, which is a super-dense remnant of a star that has exploded, its magnetic field will rise to around 100 trillion gauss. Magnetars are the most magnetic objects in the universe and are so powerful that they can wipe every credit card in existence on Earth if they were at the same distance as the moon. They are also very rare: only 31 magnetars have been confirmed so far, even as scientists speculate there are millions of inactive ones out there waiting to be discovered. The study was published in the journal Science. The lead author of the study, Tomer Shenar of the University of Amsterdam, said the "exciting" discovery was the first of its kind. Meanwhile, co-author Pablo Marchant said the star’s entire surface "is as magnetic as the strongest human-made magnets".
