Until recently, magnetic fields in the outskirts of galaxies were too faint to be detected. Although it’s still not clear what causes them or how they’re maintained, astronomers have started to create images of their observations of galaxies’ magnetic fields producing beautiful aurora-like effects. See them here. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/images-of-magnetic-fields-in-galaxies…
Tag: magnetic field
Mars atmosphere shedding charged particles onto Phobos?
New research suggests that particles escaping from Mars’ atmosphere have been accumulating on the surface of the planet’s largest moon Phobos for billions of years. They could provide important new details about the history of both worlds. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-atmosphere-history-phobos-soil…
A CubeSat will test out water as a propulsion system
Novel propulsion systems for CubeSats have been on an innovative tear of late. UT has reported on propulsion systems that use everything from solid iodine to the Earth’s own magnetic field as a way of moving a small spacecraft. Now, there is a potential solution using a much more mundane material for a propellant—water. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-cubesat-propulsion.html…
The Vertical Magnetic Field of NGC 5775
How far do magnetic fields extend up and out of spiral galaxies? Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html…
Exchange bias set in a spin-glass phase could arise in a disordered antiferromagnet
A team of researchers from the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Nuclear Research Center—Negev and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory has developed a way to isolate antiferromagnet (AFM) heterostructures in the absence of a ferromagnet (FM) to study the coupling that occurs between AFM order parameters and spin-glass parameters. In their paper published in the journal Nature…
Update on the 7 Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby TRAPPIST-1
A new study of the seven Earth-sized exoplanets around TRAPPIST-1 indicate that all 7 planets are extremely similar to each other in makeup, but potentially quite different from Earth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/7-trappist-1-planets-similar-composition-unlike-earth…
China’s huge FAST telescope to open to international observers
FAST’s 500-meter (1,640-foot) dish makes it the world’s largest single-dish radio observatory. It’s expected to open to international observers in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/worlds-largest-radio-telescope-china-fast…
Juno maps water ice across northern Ganymede
Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is the largest planetary satellite in the solar system. It’s also one of the most intriguing: Ganymede is the only moon with its own magnetic field, it is the most differentiated of all moons, and it likely possesses a subsurface ocean of liquid water. It was studied by the early Jupiter flybys made by the Pioneer and Voyager…
The Magnetic Field of the Whirlpool Galaxy
Do magnetic fields always flow along spiral arms? Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html…
Astronomers find signature of magnetar outbursts in nearby galaxies
Apart from black holes, magnetars may be the most extreme stars in the universe. With a diameter less than the length of Manhattan, they pack more mass than that of our sun, wield the largest magnetic field of any known object—more than 10 trillion times stronger than a refrigerator magnet—and spin on their axes every few seconds. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-astronomers-signature-magnetar-outbursts-nearby.html…