The galactic magnetic field plays an important role in the evolution of the galaxy, but its small-scale behaviour is still poorly known. It is also unknown whether it permeates the halo of the galaxy or not. By using observations of pulsars in the halo globular cluster 47 Tuc, an international research team led by Federico Abbate from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany who started this work at University of Milano Bicocca and INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Cagliari, could probe the galactic magnetic field at scales of a few light years for the first time. They discovered an unexpected strong magnetic field in the direction of the cluster. This magnetic field points perpendicularly to the galactic disk and could be explained by an interaction with the galactic wind. This is a magnetized outflow that extends from the galactic disk into the surrounding halo and its existence has never been proven before.
Click here for original story, Globular cluster billowing in the galactic wind
Source: Phys.org