Jun 15, 2017
Artist impression of chaotic magnetic field lines very near a newly emerging protostar. Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF; D. Berry
Chaotically Magnetized Cloud Is No Place to Build a Star, or Is It?
“For decades, scientists believed that the magnetic field lines around a forming star were extremely powerful and orderly, warping only under extreme force and at great distance from the nascent star.Now, a team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has discovered a weak and wildly disorganized magnetic field strikingly near a newly emerging protostar. These observations suggest that the impact of magnetic fields on star formation is more complex than previously thought.“
