Galaxies are surrounded by magnetic field lines, spanning tens of thousands of light-years. These magnetic fields have previously been measured surrounding only the closest galaxies. Still, astronomers have made the map of a galaxy seen just a few billion years after the Big Bang. Astronomers discovered with ALMA, searching dust grains in the galaxy that align with the nearby magnetic fields. The light they emit becomes polarized, which can then be turned into magnetic field maps.
The galaxies in our local Universe all have magnetic fields. Galactic magnetic fields can be generated by ionized gas within a galaxy, and these same magnetic fields affect the evolution of galaxies. But while modern galaxies have magnetic fields, did early ones? Astronomers are still trying to understand how galactic magnetic fields arise in young galaxies, but this can be a challenge without observational data.
This new observation is an amazing feat, particularly given the fact that galactic magnetic fields are invisible. They don’t emit light we can detect, but they can affect gas and dust that does emit light. In this case, since the 9io9 galaxy is particularly dusty, the team focused on light coming from dust grains in the galaxy. Light emitted or scattered by the dust grains tends to be polarized in line with the orientation of the dust grain.
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