{"id":26120,"date":"2023-09-06T11:00:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T15:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=26120"},"modified":"2023-09-04T16:35:05","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T20:35:05","slug":"eso-most-distant-galactic-magnetic-field-detected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=26120","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Most distant galactic magnetic field detected"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO<\/a>). Note that the galaxy of interest was initially discovered by a citizen science project sponsored by the BBC’s Stargazing Live<\/a> television program<\/em> [1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Furthest ever detection of a galaxy\u2019s magnetic field<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This image shows the orientation of the magnetic field in the distant 9io9 galaxy, seen here when the Universe was only 20% of its current age \u2014 the furthest ever detection of a galaxy\u2019s magnetic field. The observations were done with the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. Dust grains within 9io9 are somewhat aligned with the galaxy\u2019s magnetic field, and due to this they emit polarised light, meaning that light waves oscillate along a preferred direction rather than randomly. ALMA detected this polarisation signal, from which astronomers could work out the orientation of the magnetic field, shown here as curved lines overlaid on the ALMA image. The polarised light signal emitted by the magnetically aligned dust in 9io9 was extremely faint, representing just one percent of the total brightness of the galaxy, so astronomers used a clever trick of nature to help them obtain this result. The team was helped by the fact that 9io9, although very distant from us, had been magnified via a process known as gravitational lensing. This occurs when light from a distant galaxy, in this case 9io9, appears brighter and distorted as it is bent by the gravity of a very large object in the foreground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected the magnetic field of a galaxy so far away that its light has taken more than 11 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was just 2.5 billion years old. The result provides astronomers with vital clues about how the magnetic fields of galaxies like our own Milky Way came to be.<\/p>\n

Lots of astronomical bodies in the Universe have magnetic fields, whether it be planets, stars or galaxies.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people might not be aware that our entire galaxy and other galaxies are laced with magnetic fields, spanning tens of thousands of light-years<\/em>,\u201d<\/p>\n

says James Geach, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, and lead author of the study published today in Nature<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually know very little about how these fields form, despite their being quite fundamental to how galaxies evolve<\/em>,\u201d<\/p>\n

adds Enrique Lopez Rodriguez, a researcher at Stanford University, USA, who also participated in the study. It is not clear how early in the lifetime of the Universe, and how quickly, magnetic fields in galaxies form because so far astronomers have only mapped magnetic fields in galaxies close to us.<\/p>\n