ÎÞÂëרÇø

ANASA-funded collaboration led by ÎÞÂëרÇø researchers provides a never-before-seen view of the magnetic fields in the center of the Milky Way. The result of nearly four years of work, the image displays the relationship between magnetic fields and the dust structures that make up galaxies and lead to the formation of stars, planets and, ultimately, life.

ÎÞÂëרÇø received funding from NASA in 2020 to use SOFIA (the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy), which was a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that carried a telescope into the stratosphere. Flying at 38,000 to 45,000 feet, it allowed astronomers to observe the infrared universe above 99% of Earth’s infrared-blocking atmosphere. With data from nine flights, the resulting map is the largest ever obtained with SOFIA, measuring nearly 500 light-years across the center of the galaxy.

The map of the magnetic fields was created in segments, with each calibrated and processed separately and then combined. The intricate structure of magnetic fields inferred by the polarimetry was overlaid on a three-color map that differentiates between warm (pink) and cool (blue) dust clouds and radio filaments (yellow).

The project was led by David Chuss, PhD, ’95 CLAS, chair of the Department of Physics. It also featured contributions from other universities and ÎÞÂëרÇø student researchers. Postdoctoral researcher Dylan Paré, PhD, performed a majority of the data reduction, segmentation, calibration and combination of the comprehensive map. The three-color background image was constructed by Kaitlyn Karpovich ’24 CLAS, who is now pursuing a PhD at Stanford University.