soulxtc
October 5th, 2006, 07:25 PM
Huge loops of gas – similar to those found on the Sun – have been found soaring above the galactic plane near the centre of the Milky Way, a new study reveals.
The tube-like structures may be responsible for the formation of giant star clusters near the galaxy's centre and also might be behind the region's mysteriously powerful magnetic field.
In 2003, astronomers finished a survey that revealed two loop-shaped structures within about 3300 light years of the galaxy's centre, using the NANTEN radio telescope in Las Campanas, Chile.
"I was struck by the loops when I saw them," says study leader Yasuo Fukui of Nagoya University in Japan. "But it took a few years for me to understand that they represent magnetic loops."
The team believes they formed the way glowing arches, called prominences, do on the Sun – from the stretching and bending of magnetic field lines.
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn10229-giant-gas-loops-found-rising-above-the-milky-way-.html
The tube-like structures may be responsible for the formation of giant star clusters near the galaxy's centre and also might be behind the region's mysteriously powerful magnetic field.
In 2003, astronomers finished a survey that revealed two loop-shaped structures within about 3300 light years of the galaxy's centre, using the NANTEN radio telescope in Las Campanas, Chile.
"I was struck by the loops when I saw them," says study leader Yasuo Fukui of Nagoya University in Japan. "But it took a few years for me to understand that they represent magnetic loops."
The team believes they formed the way glowing arches, called prominences, do on the Sun – from the stretching and bending of magnetic field lines.
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn10229-giant-gas-loops-found-rising-above-the-milky-way-.html