NASA animation showing magnetic fields and a heavy burst of gamma rays surrounding a magnetar

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A burst of gamma radiation from a distant star streamed to Earth last month, but scientists say the planet and its population were never in any danger.

NASA says the radiation burst struck Earth's atmosphere August 27 after traveling 20,000 light-years from a newly discovered type of star called a magnetar. The magnetar in question, SGR1900+14, sits in the constellation Aquila (the Eagle).

The energy released by the magnetar in one five-minute burst, said Kevin Hurley of the University of California-Berkeley, was roughly equal to the amount of energy Earth's sun will put out in the next 300 years.

"If we could somehow harness this energy on Earth, we would have enough power to take care of everything, power every city, every village, every light bulb, until the end of the universe and far beyond," said Hurley. "But believe me, you would not want this star to be your sun. It's extremely lethal."

Location of Soft Gamma Repeaters in the Milky Way

"A magnet this strong could erase the magnetic strip on the credit cards in your wallet or pull the keys out of your pocket from a distance halfway to the moon," said Robert Duncan of the University of Texas-Austin.

Magnetars are thought to be dense, spinning stars with a tremendously strong magnetic field (800 trillion times that of Earth) that routinely emits flashes of intense radiation.

In fact, NASA scientists said they had begun to detect flashes from SGR1900+14 earlier this year but did not have time to announce their conclusions before the gamma ray blast on August 27.

Astronomers have speculated for 12 years that magnetars, a kind of neutron star formed from the explosion -- or supernova -- of a very large, ordinary star, exist.

The detection of what scientists described as a "cataclysmic magnetic flare" could help answer many questions about the structure and life of stars.