2018/05/29 by Kate Pattle, Derek Ward-Thompson, Tetsuo Hasegawa +7 · 48 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Bolometer #Coupling (piping) #Field (mathematics) #Field strength #James Clerk Maxwell Telescope #Magnetic field #Polarimeter #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Telescope #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aac771
published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters 860(1), L6 (IOP Publishing) · 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL
arxiv created 2018/05/29 · openalex publication_date 2018/06/07 · arxiv updated 2018/06/13 · openalex created_date 2018/06/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract We present the first high-resolution, submillimeter-wavelength polarimetric observations of—and thus direct observations of the magnetic field morphology within—the dense gas of the Pillars of Creation in M16. These 850 μ m observations, taken as part of the B -Fields in Star-forming Region Observations Survey (BISTRO) using the POL-2 polarimeter on the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2) camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), show that the magnetic field runs along the length of the Pillars, perpendicular to and decoupled from the field in the surrounding photoionized cloud. Using the Chandrasekhar–Fermi method we estimate a plane-of-sky magnetic field strength of 170–320 μ G in the Pillars, consistent with their having been formed through the compression of gas with initially weak magnetization. The observed magnetic field strength and morphology suggests that the magnetic field may be slowing the Pillars’ evolution into cometary globules. We thus hypothesize that the evolution and lifetime of the Pillars may be strongly influenced by the strength of the coupling of their magnetic field to that of their parent photoionized cloud—i.e., that the Pillars’ longevity results from magnetic support.