APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

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APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by APOD Robot » Wed Feb 27, 2019 5:10 am

Image Magnetic Orion

Explanation: Can magnetism affect how stars form? Recent analysis of Orion data from the HAWC+ instrument on the airborne SOFIA observatory indicate that, at times, it can. HAWC+ is able to measure the polarization of far-infrared light which can reveal the alignment of dust grains by expansive ambient magnetic fields. In the featured image, these magnetic fields are shown as curvy lines superposed on an infrared image of the Orion Nebula taken by a Very Large Telescope in Chile. Orion's Kleinmann-Low Nebula is visible slightly to the upper right of the image center, while bright stars of the Trapezium cluster are visible just to the lower left of center. The Orion Nebula at about l300 light years distant is the nearest major star formation region to the Sun.

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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by bystander » Wed Feb 27, 2019 5:17 am

SOFIA Uncovers Clues to the Evolution of Universe and Search for Life
NASA | USRA | SOFIA | 2019 Feb 20

A compilation of scientific results from The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, reveal new clues to how stars form and galaxies evolve, and closer to understanding the environment of Europa and its subsurface ocean. The airborne observatory carries a suite of instruments, each sensitive to different properties of infrared light, that gives astronomers insights into the flow of matter in galaxies.

“Much of the light in the universe is emitted as infrared light that does not reach Earth’s surface,” said Bill Reach, chief science advisor at the University Space Research Association’s SOFIA Science Center. “Infrared observations from SOFIA, which flies above most of the atmosphere, let us study what’s happening deep inside cosmic clouds, analyze celestial magnetic fields and investigate the chemical universe in ways that are not possible with visible light.”

Unlike space-based telescopes, SOFIA’s instruments can be exchanged, serviced or upgraded to harness new technologies. Its newest instrument, called the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-Plus, or HAWC+, enables studies of celestial magnetic fields with ground-breaking precision.

“How magnetic fields affect the process of star formation has not been well understood, though it has long been suspected that they play an important role,” said David Chuss, professor of physics at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. “With SOFIA’s HAWC+ instrument, we can now begin to understand how these fields influence the dynamics of regions where gas and dust are collapsing to produce new stars." ...

Focus on New Results from SOFIA
Astrophysical Journal Letters | Focus Issue | January 2019

https://www.nasa.gov/sofia
https://www.sofia.usra.edu/
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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by madtom1999 » Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:16 am

Just a typo "l300 light years"

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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by Boomer12k » Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:42 am

Maybe so many stars forming in one area create magnetic fields? Stars have magnetic fields... many, many stars might magnetize other things as they form?

Maybe there is an awful lot of IRON FILINGS out there????

I wonder what effect if any it would have on any objects passing through the area....

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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by Boomer12k » Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:43 am

Painted by Van Gogh...I think...

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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:25 pm

Like the hair on a dogs face! 8-) Oh what an imagination I have! :lol2:
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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by Tragic Astronomy » Wed Feb 27, 2019 1:36 pm

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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by Ann » Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:17 pm

Completely fascinating! :D

I love that so much of the magnetism seems to emanate from the Kleinmann-Low Nebula, where a massive star is forming. The Trapezium, by contrast, doesn't seem to contribute all that much magnetic turmoil to the brew. I guess we should conclude that stars affect their environment more when they are in the process of forming then when they have settled down into adult main sequence life.

I love the well-known Orion ridge, too (in the lower left part of the picture), which seems to pretty much stop the magnetic lines in their tracks - or at the very least deflect them!

I love this APOD!

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Last edited by Ann on Wed Feb 27, 2019 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Feb 27, 2019 3:10 pm

Boomer12k wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:42 am Maybe so many stars forming in one area create magnetic fields? Stars have magnetic fields... many, many stars might magnetize other things as they form?
It is a chicken-and-egg kind of thing. Are the stars forming because of magnetic fields, or are the magnetic fields the product of stars? We're seeing feedback processes. Electric currents produce magnetic fields produce electric currents. Mass produces gravity which influences mass.
I wonder what effect if any it would have on any objects passing through the area....
None... unless you're talking about objects that are the size of dust. Even in regions like this, almost everything is weak and tenuous- weak fields, hard vacuums, low gravity.
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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by MarkBour » Wed Feb 27, 2019 4:29 pm

Nice. I'd love to see what they make of Mystic Mountain in the Carina Nebula with this technique.
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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by puzzled » Wed Feb 27, 2019 6:28 pm

To what extent, if any, could magnetism account for the apparent effects of 'dark matter' in galactic motion?

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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Feb 27, 2019 6:39 pm

puzzled wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 6:28 pm To what extent, if any, could magnetism account for the apparent effects of 'dark matter' in galactic motion?
None. Dark matter doesn't appear to interact with the electromagnetic force at all, so it is unaffected by magnetic fields.
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Re: APOD: Magnetic Orion (2019 Feb 27)

Post by Boomer12k » Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:43 am

Chris Peterson wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 3:10 pm
Boomer12k wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:42 am Maybe so many stars forming in one area create magnetic fields? Stars have magnetic fields... many, many stars might magnetize other things as they form?
It is a chicken-and-egg kind of thing. Are the stars forming because of magnetic fields, or are the magnetic fields the product of stars? We're seeing feedback processes. Electric currents produce magnetic fields produce electric currents. Mass produces gravity which influences mass.
I wonder what effect if any it would have on any objects passing through the area....
None... unless you're talking about objects that are the size of dust. Even in regions like this, almost everything is weak and tenuous- weak fields, hard vacuums, low gravity.
I think I have an answer.... Stars MAKE dust... Dust can be magnetic or not... Stars have magnetic fields...dust can be magnetized by the stars and their light...It might not HAVE to be magnetic to help form stars at all...mass naturally can come together.
THEN, when you have a star and it spews out dust...THAT is magnetized, it used to be in the star after all... lots of stars...lots of magnetized dust...and they might even show some polarization over vast distances....just my thoughts.
Also...even if the dust did not come from within a star...it could still be magnetized by the star light...as per this article perhaps?

Here is an article on molecules and light.

"It is well known that if a nonmagnetic molecule absorbs light, often it makes a switch to the magnetic form, and that form will live for a long time and slowly give off light,"

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2019-01-molecules ... y.html#jCp

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