Magnetic 'force field' shields giant gas cloud during collision with Milky Way
Thursday, October 31, 2013 - 15:00
in Astronomy & Space
Doom may be averted for the Smith Cloud, a gigantic streamer of hydrogen gas that is on a collision course with the Milky Way Galaxy. Astronomers have discovered a magnetic field deep in the cloud’s interior, which may protect it during its meteoric plunge into the disk of our Galaxy.