This image shows the orientation of the magnetic field in the far-off 9io9 galaxy, seen here when the Universe was just 20% of its existing age– the outermost ever detection of a galaxys magnetic field. Dust grains within 9io9 are rather lined up with the galaxys magnetic field, and due to this, they give off polarized light, meaning that light waves oscillate along a preferred instructions rather than arbitrarily.
Utilizing the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected the electromagnetic field of a galaxy up until now away that its light has actually taken more than 11 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was simply 2.5 billion years of ages. The result supplies astronomers with essential clues about how the magnetic fields of galaxies like our own Milky Way became.
Utilizing ALMA, astronomers have identified the magnetic field of a galaxy so far away that its light has actually taken more than 11 billion years to reach us. Never ever before had we detected a galaxys electromagnetic field this far away. This video sums up the discovery. Credit: ESO
Magnetic Fields Across the Universe
Great deals of astronomical bodies in deep space have magnetic fields, whether it be planets, stars, or galaxies. “Many individuals might not know that our whole galaxy and other galaxies are laced with electromagnetic fields, covering tens of thousands of light-years,” states James Geach, a teacher of astrophysics at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, and lead author of the research study released just recently in the clinical journal Nature.
” We actually know really little about how these fields form, in spite of their being quite essential to how galaxies progress,” includes Enrique Lopez Rodriguez, a scientist at Stanford University, USA, who also took part in the study. It is unclear how early in the lifetime of deep space, and how rapidly, electromagnetic fields in galaxies form due to the fact that so far astronomers have actually just mapped electromagnetic fields in galaxies close to us.
This infrared image shows the remote galaxy 9io9, seen here as a reddish arc curved around a bright nearby galaxy. This nearby galaxy acts as a gravitational lens: its mass curves spacetime around it, bending lightrays coming from 9io9 in the background, thus its distorted shape. Geach et al
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Now, utilizing ALMA, in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, Geach and his team have found a completely formed electromagnetic field in a remote galaxy, similar in structure to what is observed in nearby galaxies. The field has to do with 1000 times weaker than the Earths electromagnetic field, but crosses more than 16,000 light-years.
” This discovery provides us brand-new ideas as to how galactic-scale electromagnetic fields are formed,” describes Geach. Observing a completely established magnetic field this early in the history of the Universe indicates that magnetic fields spanning whole galaxies can form quickly while young galaxies are still growing.
The team believes that extreme star development in the early Universe could have contributed in speeding up the advancement of the fields. These fields can in turn influence how later generations of stars will form. Co-author and ESO astronomer Rob Ivison says that the discovery opens “a new window onto the inner functions of galaxies, due to the fact that the electromagnetic fields are linked to the material that is forming brand-new stars.”
This video takes us on a journey from our home in the Milky Way to a galaxy far, far away, 9io9. We first see the night sky in visible light, and then switch to infrared light when we lastly reach 9io9. Here, the galaxy looks like a faint reddish arc curved around an intense neighboring galaxy. We then see the ALMA image of 9io9 at millimeter wavelengths, with the orientation of the magnetic field indicated by overlaid curves. Credit: ESO/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/ DESI/CFHT/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)/ J. Geach et al
. Strategies for Detecting Distant Magnetic Fields
To make this detection, the team searched for light given off by dust grains in a far-off galaxy, 9io9. Galaxies are jam-packed complete of dust grains and when a magnetic field is present, the grains tend to line up and the light they produce becomes polarized. When ALMA detected and mapped a polarized signal coming from 9io9, the presence of a magnetic field in a really far-off galaxy was verified for the very first time.
” No other telescope might have attained this,” says Geach. The hope is that with this and future observations of distant electromagnetic fields the mystery of how these basic galactic functions form will begin to unwind.
Reference: “Polarized thermal emission from dust in a galaxy at redshift 2.6” by J. E. Geach, E. Lopez-Rodriguez, M. J. Doherty, Jianhang Chen, R. J. Ivison, G. J. Bendo, S. Dye and K. E. K. Coppin, 6 September 2023, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/ s41586-023-06346-4.
Notes.
9io9 was found in the course of a person science project. The discovery was helped by audiences of the British BBC tv program Stargazing Live, when over 3 nights in 2014 the audience was asked to analyze countless images in the hunt for remote galaxies.
The research team is composed of J. E. Geach (Centre for Astrophysics Research, School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, UK [Hertfordshire], E. Lopez-Rodriguez (Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, USA), M. J. Doherty (Hertfordshire), Jianhang Chen (European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany [ESO], R. J. Ivison (ESO), G. J. Bendo (UK ALMA Regional Centre Node, Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, UK), S. Dye (School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, UK) and K. E. K. Coppin (Hertfordshire).
This image reveals the orientation of the magnetic field in the distant 9io9 galaxy, seen here when the Universe was only 20% of its present age– the outermost ever detection of a galaxys magnetic field. Dust grains within 9io9 are rather aligned with the galaxys magnetic field, and due to this, they release polarized light, meaning that light waves oscillate along a preferred instructions rather than randomly. Using ALMA, astronomers have actually spotted the magnetic field of a galaxy so far away that its light has actually taken more than 11 billion years to reach us. Here, the galaxy appears as a faint reddish arc curved around an intense close-by galaxy. When ALMA detected and mapped a polarized signal coming from 9io9, the presence of a magnetic field in a very remote galaxy was verified for the very first time.