The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Artist's impression of a magnetar.
Magnetars are the cosmic objects with the strongest magnetic fields ever measured in the Universe. They are extremely magnetised pulsars – the hot and dense remnants of massive stars that throw off energetic radiation in impulsive bursts and longer outbursts on timescales from milliseconds to years.
A multi-instrument campaign led by ESA’s XMM-Newton has captured an outburst emanating from the youngest baby pulsar ever spotted: Swift J1818.0−1607, which is interestingly also a magnetar.
More information: XMM-Newton spies youngest baby pulsar ever discovered