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Astronomers Find Surprisingly Complex Magnetic Fields in a Galaxy’s Halo

Astronomers hope to explain how galaxies like this one can grow magnetic fields that stretch for thousands of light-years — and what affect they have on galactic evolution.

Dec 2, 2019 11:30 PMDec 3, 2019 3:31 PM

Astronomers revealed the complex pattern of magnetic fields in NGC 4631, the "Whale Galaxy," using measurements made with the Very Large Array. Information about the magnetic fields is shown in green and blue on top of an image of the galaxy. The streaks within the green and blue regions show the directions of magnetic field "flow" along the sky, while the green and blue regions show where the fields point mostly toward and away from Earth, respectively, while the streaks within those regions show the directions of magnetic field "flow" along the sky. (Credit: Jayanne English, Silvia Carolina Mora-Partiarroyo, Marita Krause, Maria Patterson, Rene Walterbos, Arpad Miskolczi, NRAO/VLA, KPNO/Mayall Telescope)

In galaxies, magnetic fields can extend at least 1,000 light-years. And, thanks to some of today’s most powerful radio telescopes, astronomers are trying to understand how these vast fields were created and how they affect the galaxies they’re in.

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