Currently, the phenomenons of SGRs and the related Anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXP) are explained as arising from magnetars.
SGR 0501+4516 is located approximately 15,000 light years from Earth and has a magnetic field 100 trillion times stronger than the Earth's.
[2] It has been suggested that SGR 0501+4516, together with 1E 1547.0-5408, should be considered as tools for a final unification of SGRs, AXPs and the “transient AXPs (TAXPs)” into a single class of “magnetars candidates”.
[2] Its existence was reported on Aug. 22, 2008, by NASA's Swift satellite, which reported numerous blasts of radiation from the object.
The eruptions were subsequently studied in-depth using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton and International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) satellites.