¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 January 27 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Vertical Magnetic Field of NGC 5775 Image Credit: [3]NRAO, [4]NASA, [5]ESA, [6]Hubble; Processing & Text: [7]Jayanne English ([8]U. Manitoba) Explanation: How far do magnetic fields extend up and out of spiral galaxies? For decades astronomers knew only that some [9]spiral galaxies had [10]magnetic fields. However, after [11]NRAO's Very Large Array ([12]VLA) [13]radio telescope (popularized in the [14]movie Contact) was [15]upgraded in 2011, it was [16]unexpectedly discovered that these fields could extend vertically away from the disk by several thousand [17]light-years. The [18]featured image of [19]edge-on spiral galaxy [20]NGC 5775, observed in the CHANG-ES ([21]Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies) survey, also reveals spurs of magnetic field lines that [22]may be common in spirals. Analogous to [23]iron filings around a bar magnet, radiation from electrons trace [24]galactic magnetic field lines by spiraling around these lines at almost the [25]speed of light. The filaments in this image are [26]constructed from those tracks in VLA data. The [27]visible light image, [28]constructed from [29]Hubble Space Telescope data, shows pink gaseous regions where [30]stars are born. It seems that [31]winds from these regions help form the magnificently [32]extended galactic magnetic fields. Tomorrow's picture: Messier 66 Close Up __________________________________________________________________ [33]< | [34]Archive | [35]Submissions | [36]Index | [37]Search | [38]Calendar | [39]RSS | [40]Education | [41]About APOD | [42]Discuss | [43]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [44]Robert Nemiroff ([45]MTU) & [46]Jerry Bonnell ([47]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [48]Specific rights apply. [49]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [50]ASD at [51]NASA / [52]GSFC & [53]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2101/NGC5775_NraoEnglish_6067.jpg 3. https://public.nrao.edu/ 4. https://www.nasa.gov/ 5. https://www.esa.int/ 6. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/about 7. http://www2.physics.umanitoba.ca/u/english/ 8. https://sci.umanitoba.ca/physics-astronomy/ 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_galaxy 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field 11. https://public.nrao.edu/ 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060514.html 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_telescope 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_(1997_American_film) 15. https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/vla/docs/manuals/oss2013B/intro/project 16. https://i.imgur.com/MwLMgEJ.jpeg 17. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/ 18. https://public.nrao.edu/news/2020-image-contest-winners/ 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100225.html 20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_5775 21. https://www.queensu.ca/changes/ 22. https://www.queensu.ca/changes/press-releases/ 23. https://youtu.be/tfiebTsJDno 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210120.html 25. https://youtu.be/nQUwHdSAhmw 26. https://illuminateduniverse.org/2021/01/27/the-yin-and-yang-of-the-visible-and-invisible-in-spiral-galaxies/ 27. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight 28. https://sites.google.com/site/jayannescosmicportfolio/ 29. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html 30. https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190723.html 32. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020A%26A...639A.112K/abstract 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210126.html 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 37. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 41. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 42. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210127 43. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210128.html 44. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 45. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 46. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 47. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 48. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 49. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 50. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 51. https://www.nasa.gov/ 52. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 53. http://www.mtu.edu/