Thanks to the findings of NASA Spitzer Space Telescope, a University of Chicago astrophysicist and his associates are researching how a mysterious infrared ring got left around a dead star.
The ring is comprised of a magnetic field trillions of times more intense than Earth's.
The star is a rare and exotic star known as a magnetar; highly-magnetized neutron star which was the remnant of a brilliant supernova.
JPL: "Strange Ring Found Circling Dead Star"
Eurekalert: "Scientists find giant ring encircling exotic dead star" and "CSI: Milky Way team works scene of dead star".