For the first time, scientists have made a detailed map of the magnetic fields inside the pillars, made famous by an iconic 1995 image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
The data revealed that the magnetic field extended the length of each pillar, perpendicular to the external magnetic field. According to astronomer Kate Pattle and colleagues, in Astrophysical Journal Letters of June 10, this structure likely slows down the destruction of columns of gas and dust.
A hot ionized gas called plasma surrounds the pillars, located in the Eagle Nebula about 7,000 light years from Earth. The pressure of this plasma gas could cause these pillars to narrow down the middle like an hourglass before breaking. However, the researchers suggest that the organization of magnetic fields in the pillars could provide an outward force against the onslaught of plasma, preventing the columns from disintegrating.
The team studied the light emitted from the pillars, measuring its polarization – the direction in which electromagnetic waves of light sway – using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. The dust particles in the pillars are aligned with each other due to the magnetic field. These aligned particles emit polarized light, allowing researchers to trace the direction of the magnetic field at different points.
“There are few clear measurements of magnetic fields in objects like pillars,” said Koji Sugitani of Nagoya City University in Japan. To fully understand the formation of objects like this, more observations are needed.
Studying objects from the birthplace of stars, such as pillars, could help scientists better understand the role magnetic fields play in star formation. “This is really one of the big unanswered questions,” said Pattle, of National Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. We don’t know for sure if magnetic fields are important and, if so, what they do. “
