Magnetic Fields Discovered in Ancient Star-Forming Galaxy

Polarized thermal emission from dust in a galaxy at redshift 2.6

Magnetic fields are really important for how galaxies evolve and how stars are born. We’ve known about these magnetic fields in our own Milky Way and nearby galaxies, but we didn’t know when they first appeared in the Universe. Now, we’ve found evidence of these magnetic fields in a very distant and bright galaxy, which is forming stars much faster than our Milky Way. This discovery tells us that these magnetic fields could form early in the history of the universe.

Geach, J.E., Lopez-Rodriguez, E., Doherty, M.J. et al. Polarized thermal emission from dust in a galaxy at redshift 2.6. Nature (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06346-4

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