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Thank you! This is also a great response! Now I'm wondering how they measure magnetic fields. But of course I'm sure there's about a million youtube videos expl
by 37 5y ago
Thank you! This is also a great response! Now I'm wondering how they measure magnetic fields. But of course I'm sure there's about a million youtube videos explaining that.
>Magnetic fields tend to slow the gas collapsing, so finding that the fields were lower than expected decreases the expected time of collapse.
I think this part might be backwards, wouldn't it increase the expected time of collapse, which is to say stars may form faster than thought?
(edit: no, I'm just tired and wrong, yet again...)
- antognini 5y agoAt a very simplified level, in these kinds of astrophysical contexts you can kind of think of magnetic field lines as strings, and the particles in the gas are forced to follow the strings. The stronger the field, the more closely the particles have to follow those strings. So if the magnetic field is large, they can have the effect of redirecting particles from where they otherwise would go due to gravitational collapse, and slow the process down.
- simonh 5y agoThey explain the measurement approach in the article. The Zeeman effects occurs when spectral absorption lines 'split' due to the influence of magnetic fields. They measure this effect at radio wavelengths.