In the heart of the Perseus galaxy cluster lies a remarkable galaxy known as NGC 1275, which has long "filaments"of glowing gas that snake out from its center.
Astronomers have tried to explain how these beautiful structures can have survived for so long, given that the filaments reach out from their home galaxy into the Perseus cluster, which is a hostile, high-energy environment with a strong, tidal pull of gravity.These combined forces should have ripped apart the filaments in a very short time, causing them to collapse into stars [The Independent].
Now, thanks to images from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers say they understand how the filaments have held their shape for over 100 million years: Magnetic fields are keeping the filaments together, they say.
The magnetic fields ... hold onto the filaments because they wield influence over charged particles – such as protons and electrons – in the filaments' ...
