Astronomers have measured the alignment of magnetic fields in gigantic clouds of gas and dust in a distant galaxy. Their results suggest that such magnetic fields play a key role in channeling matter to form denser clouds, and thus in setting the stage for the birth of new stars.
Stars and their planets are born when giant clouds of interstellar gas and dust collapse.Astronomers know quite a bit about these so-called molecular clouds: They consist mainly of hydrogen molecules, which is unusual since conditions are rarely right for hydrogen atoms to bond in the cosmos. Astronomers then wondered how these clouds could come into being, and what makes matter congregate in regions a hundred or even a thousand times more dense than the surrounding interstellar gas? One theory suggests that galaxies' magnetic fields guide and direct the condensation of interstellar matter to form denser clouds and facilitate their further collapse. Astronomers Hua-bai Li and Thomas Henning from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy chose the Triangulum galaxy, 3 million light-years from Earth and also known as M 33 to study to try and gain evidence of magnetic field influence. Li and Henning measured specific properties of radiation received from different regions of the galaxy which are correlated with the orientation of these region's magnetic fields. They found that the magnetic fields associated with the galaxy's six most massive giant molecular clouds were orderly, and well aligned with the galaxy's spiral arms. Their findings are a strong indication that magnetic fields do actually play an important role when it comes to the formation of dense molecular clouds; and to setting the stage for the birth of stars and planetary systems like our own.
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