The radio halo of NGC 4631

Hummel, E.; Lesch, Harald; Wielebinski, Richard und Schlickeiser, Reinhard (Mai 1988): The radio halo of NGC 4631. Ordered magnetic fields far above the plane. In: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Bd. 197, Nr. 1-2: L29-L31

Abstract

In this letter we report the discovery of linearly polarized emission in the radio halo of the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4631. At a distance of 6.5 kpc above the plane of the galaxy the radio emission at 1.49 GHz is 10 to 30% polarized, implying the existence of a very well ordered magnetic field. The observations suggest that the excessive thickness of the radio halo of NGC 4631, when compared to other edge-on galaxies, is due to the gravitational interaction between NGC 4631 and its companions.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Physik
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 520 Astronomie ; 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik
• ISSN: 0004-6361; 1432-0746