Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-25T04:30:15.635Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interstellar: The Galactic Magnetic Field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

D. S. Mathewson
D. S. Mathewson*
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University, Canberra
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Over a period of one year from March 1967, the 24-inch rotatable telescope at Siding Spring Observatory was used to make polarization measurements for about 1400 stars, most of which were within 400 pc of the Sun. It was found that the E vectors of the polarization formed quite definite patterns on the sky which could only be produced if the magnetic field has a helical structure. Results of model-making showed that the magnetic lines of force form tightly wound right-handed helices of pitch angle 7°. They lie on the surface of tubes which have elliptical cross-sections of axial-ratio 3 with semi-major axes parallel to the galactic plane.

Type
Contributions
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 1 , Issue 5 , March 1969 , pp. 209 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Mathewson, D. S., Ap. J. (Letters), 153, L47 (1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Mathewson, D. S. and Nicholls, D. C., Ap. J. (Letters), 154, L11 (1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 Hiltner, W. A., Ap. J. Suppl, 2, 389 (1956).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4 Hall, J. S., Pub. U.S. Naval Obs., 2d Ser., 17, No. VI (1958).Google Scholar
5 Behr, A., Veröff U. Sternw. Göttingen, No. 126, (1959).Google Scholar
6 Loden, L. O., Stockholm Obs. Ann., 21, No. 7 (1961).Google Scholar
7 Appenzeller, I., Zs. f. Ap., 64, 296 (1966).Google Scholar
8 Appenzeller, I., Ap. J., 151, 907 (1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9 Clube, S. V. M., M.N.R.A.S., 137, 189 (1967).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10 Smith, F. G., Nature, 218, 325 (1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11 Verschuur, G. L., Phys. Rev. Lett., 321, 775 (1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12 Shuter, W. L. H., Venugopal, V. R. and Mahoney, M. J., Nature, 220, 356 (1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar