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The Solar System Is Surrounded By A Massive 'Magnetic Tunnel,' Study Says
New space research predicts that the solar system is surrounded by a giant magnetic tunnel made of filaments connecting the North Polar Spur and the Fan Region in the Milky Way Galaxy’s Local Arm. Commonly known as the Orion Arm, the Local Arm is a minor spiral arm of the galaxy that houses Earth’s solar system, sitting comfortably in a relative cavity called the Local Bubble.
There are regions of the galaxy that can’t be observed in the visible spectrum. Take, for example, the Fermi Bubbles, which were detected using gamma-ray observations and look like two giant bubbles extending above and below the galactic center. Likewise, there are regions in which the Milky Way Galaxy anomalies can only be seen with radio telescopes as they aren’t visible in other spectrums.
Research coming out from the University of Toronto claims that the North Polar Spur and the Fan Region — two of the brightest structures in the solar system when viewed in the radio spectrum — are actually connected by filaments. These filaments, which are magnetic in nature, make it look as if a magnetic tunnel surrounds the solar system. At the center of the theory is that magnetic lines don’t appear randomly as they have a definite starting and ending point. Take, for example, the Earth, whose solid core acts like a giant magnetic bar with a definite North and South pole. Likewise, the Milky Way Galaxy is also a huge magnet of sorts, but its overall magnetic field is relatively weak and is carried out by streams of electrons. Interestingly, each arm of the spiral galaxy is said to host its very own center of magnetism.
Magnetic Filament Theory Might Help Understand Galactic Magnetism
Coming back to the latest research, scientists have known about the North Polar Spur and the Fan Region since their discovery in 1960, but so far, they have been treated as separate structures. However, the team behind the new research claims they are the first astronomers to show a connection between them, and that relationship exists in the form of magnetic filaments that are observed in the radio region. On a similar note, scientists recently discovered that the well-known Taurus and Perseus molecular clouds are part of a single structure called the Per-Tau shell that is shaped like a giant space bubble. To find the connection between the North Polar Spur and the Fan Region, the University of Toronto’s researchers actually had to change their viewing perspective in such a way that the radio signals appear to be coming from inside the galaxy’s Local Arm.
The team created a computer model that generated a map of the sky when viewed in the radio region and by varying the shape and location of these filaments connecting the North Polar Spur and the Fan Region. Magnetic filaments that appear above and below the disk of a galaxy are not actually a rare phenomenon and have been observed in the past across multiple spectrums. As per the latest research, the perceived magnetic tunnel surrounding Earth’s solar system is made up of charged particles and extends approximately 1,000 light-years, while its distance is roughly 350 light-years. Scientists are still unclear about how magnetism works on a galactic scale with electrons acting as the medium, but the latest research might open the doors for understanding it using the magnetic filament theory. The team behind the research now plans a follow-up study that will study these filaments on a galactic field model.
