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ID 115006
Author
Pattle, Kate University of Central Lancashire|National Tsing Hua University
Ward-Thompson, Derek University of Central Lancashire
Hasegawa, Tetsuo National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Bastien, Pierre Université de Montréal
Kwon, Woojin Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute|Korea University of Science and Technology
Lai, Shih-Ping National Tsing Hua University|Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Qiu, Keping Nanjing University
Berry, David East Asian Observatory
Keywords
H II regions
ISM: individual objects (M16)
ISM: magnetic fields
stars: formation
submillimeter: ISM
Content Type
Journal Article
Description
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 μm 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 μG 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.
Journal Title
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Volume
860
Issue
1
Start Page
L6
Published Date
2018-06-07
Rights
Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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language
eng
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departments
Liberal Arts and Sciences