Something strange is happening in the Milky Way’s magnetic field
Deep inside the Milky Way, an invisible force is quietly holding everything together — its magnetic field. Now, researchers have created one of the most detailed maps ever of this hidden structure, revealing surprising twists in how it flows through our galaxy.
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Something strange is happening in the Milky Way’s magnetic field
A stunning new map of the Milky Way reveals a dramatic magnetic flip hiding in plain sight.
Date:
February 24, 2026
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[Image: The Milky Way’s Hidden Magnetic Flip]
Astronomers have unveiled a detailed new map of the Milky Way’s magnetic field, exposing a surprising diagonal reversal deep within the galaxy. Credit: Shutterstock
For generations, scientists have studied the stars and planets to better understand how our galaxy works. Now, Dr. Jo-Anne Brown, PhD, is focused on charting something we cannot see at all: the Milky Way's magnetic field.
"Without a magnetic field, the galaxy would collapse in on itself due to gravity," says Brown, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary.
"We need to know what the magnetic field of the galaxy looks like now, so we can create accurate models that predict how it will evolve."
New Milky Way Magnetic Field Data and Models
This month, Brown and her colleagues published two new studies in The Astrophysical Journal and The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. Together, the papers introduce a complete dataset that astronomers around the world can use, along with a new model designed to improve understanding of how the Milky Way's magnetic field developed over time.
To gather the data, the team relied on a new radio telescope at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in B.C., a National Research Council Canada facility. The instrument allowed them to scan the northern sky at multiple radio frequencies, offering a detailed look at the structure of the galaxy's magnetic field.
"The broad coverage really lets you get at the details about the magnetic field structure," says Dr. Anna Ordog, PhD, lead author of the first study.
The result is a high quality, wide ranging dataset collected as part of the Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS), an international effort to chart the Milky Way's magnetic field.
Tracking Faraday Rotation Across the Galaxy
The researchers measured a phenomenon known as Faraday rotation to trace the magnetic field. This effect occurs when radio waves pass through regions filled with electrons and magnetic fields, causing the waves to shift.
"You can think of it like refraction. A straw in a glass of water looks bent because of how light interacts with matter," says Rebecca Booth, a PhD candidate working with Brown and lead author of the second study. "Faraday rotation is a similar concept, but it's electrons and magnetic fields in space interacting with radio waves."
By analyzing these subtle changes in radio signals, the team was able to map how the magnetic field is arranged across vast stretches of the galaxy.
A Diagonal Magnetic Reversal in the Sagittarius Arm
In the second study, Booth focused on a striking feature within the Milky Way known as the Sagittarius Arm, where the magnetic field runs in the opposite direction compared to the rest of the galaxy.
"If you could look at the galaxy from above, the overall magnetic field is going clockwise," says Brown. "But, in the Sagittarius Arm, it's going counterclockwise. We didn't understand how the transition occurred. Then one day, Anna brought in some data, and I went, 'O.M.G., the reversal's diagonal!'"
Building on Ordog's findings, Booth used the newly assembled dataset to construct a three dimensional model explaining this reversal.
"My work presents a new three-dimensional model for the magnetic field reversal. From Earth, this would appear as the diagonal that we observe in the data," Booth explains.
RELATED TOPICS
Space & Time
Space Exploration
Space Telescopes
NASA
Space Station
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Asteroids, Comets and Meteors
RELATED TERMS
Milky Way
Globular cluster
Magellanic Clouds
Galaxy
Local Group
Edwin Hubble
Hubble Deep Field
Spitzer space telescope
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Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Calgary. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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Journal References:
- Rebecca A. Booth, Anna Ordog, Jo-Anne Brown, T. L. Landecker, Alex S. Hill, Jennifer L. West, Minjie Lei, S. E. Clark, Andrea Bracco, John M. Dickey, Ettore Carretti. A Three-dimensional Model for the Reversal in the Local Large-scale Interstellar Magnetic Field. The Astrophysical Journal, 2026; 997 (2): 304 DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae28d1
- Anna Ordog, Rebecca A. Booth, T. L. Landecker, Ettore Carretti, Alex S. Hill, Jo-Anne C. Brown, Artem Davydov, Leonardo Moutinho Caffarello, Luca B. Galler, Jonas Flygare, Jennifer L. West, A. G. Willis, Mehrnoosh Tahani, G. J. Hovey, Dustin Lagoy, Stephen Harrison, Michael A. Smith, Charl Baard, Rob H. Messing, D. A. Del Rizzo, Benoit Robert, Timothy Robishaw, John M. Dickey, George Morgan, Ian R. Kennedy, Marijke Haverkorn, Andrea Bracco, John Conway. GMIMS-DRAGONS: A Faraday Depth Survey of the Northern Sky Covering 350–1030 MHz. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 2026; 282 (2): 53 DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/ae2471
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University of Calgary. "Something strange is happening in the Milky Way’s magnetic field." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 February 2026. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260224023207.htm>.
University of Calgary. (2026, February 24). Something strange is happening in the Milky Way’s magnetic field. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 27, 2026 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260224023207.htm
University of Calgary. "Something strange is happening in the Milky Way’s magnetic field." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260224023207.htm (accessed February 27, 2026).
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