¿ 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 April 21 [2]A picture toward the center of our Galaxy in infrared light. Please see the explanation for more information. Centaurus A's Warped Magnetic Fields Image Credit: Optical: European Southern Observatory (ESO) Wide Field Imager; Submillimeter: Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy/ESO/Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX)/A.Weiss et al; X-ray and Infrared: NASA/Chandra/R. Kraft; JPL-Caltech/J. Keene; Text: [3]Joan Schmelz ([4]USRA) Explanation: When galaxies collide -- what happens to their [5]magnetic fields? To help find out, NASA pointed [6]SOFIA, its flying 747, at galactic neighbor [7]Centaurus A to observe the emission of polarized dust -- which traces magnetic fields. Cen A's unusual shape results from the clash of two galaxies with [8]jets powered by gas accreting onto a [9]central supermassive black hole. In the resulting [10]featured image, SOFIA-derived magnetic streamlines are superposed on [11]ESO ([12]visible: white), [13]APEX ([14]submillimeter: orange), [15]Chandra ([16]X-rays: blue), and [17]Spitzer ([18]infrared: red) images. The magnetic fields were found to be [19]parallel to the [20]dust lanes on the outskirts of the galaxy but distorted near the center. Gravitational forces near the [21]black hole accelerate ions and enhance the [22]magnetic field. In sum, the [23]collision not only combined the galaxies' masses -- but amplified their magnetic fields. [24]These results provide [25]new insights into how magnetic fields evolved in the [26]early universe when [27]mergers were more common. Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [28]< | [29]Archive | [30]Submissions | [31]Index | [32]Search | [33]Calendar | [34]RSS | [35]Education | [36]About APOD | [37]Discuss | [38]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [39]Robert Nemiroff ([40]MTU) & [41]Jerry Bonnell ([42]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [43]Specific rights apply. [44]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [45]ASD at [46]NASA / [47]GSFC & [48]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2104/CenA_SofiaPlus_1847.jpg 3. https://www.sofia.usra.edu/science/science-team/joan-schmelz 4. https://www.usra.edu/ 5. https://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/Imagnet.html 6. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIA/index.html 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurus_A 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210117.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210331.html 10. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/galactic-merger-warps-magnetic-fields 11. https://www.eso.org/public/ 12. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight 13. http://www.apex-telescope.org/ns/ 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-infrared_astronomy 15. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html 16. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/11_xrays 17. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/main/index.html 18. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves 19. https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/parallel-lines.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151119.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210416.html 22. https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/cheerpj/faraday/latest/faraday.html 23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_merger 24. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01329-9.epdf 25. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d6/dc/8b/d6dc8b1771b697ff2992982482911274.jpg 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121014.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130514.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210420.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 32. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 37. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210421 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210422.html 39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 40. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 41. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 42. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 43. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 44. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 45. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 46. https://www.nasa.gov/ 47. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 48. http://www.mtu.edu/