CSIRO Publishes 4 Million-Galaxy Magnetic Map, Expanding Data 5-Fold
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 4
CSIRO Publishes 4 Million-Galaxy Magnetic Map, Expanding Data 5-Fold
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 4
Summary
SPICE_RACS, published by a CSIRO-led team, maps magnetic fields across nearly 4 million galaxies—the largest such chart yet assembled.
ASKAP, Australia’s most powerful radio telescope array, enabled the map by measuring how light twisted as it crossed intergalactic space, giving scientists a new way to probe cosmic magnetism.
The dataset is five times larger and far more detailed than previous efforts, which researchers said had not even covered the southern sky and had changed little for about 20 years.
Open access to the catalog should let scientists worldwide test how magnetic fields formed after the Big Bang, evolved over time, and shape galaxies and star-forming regions.
With the universe's magnetic web now charted, what hidden cosmic phenomena will the even more powerful SKA telescopes unveil next?
Beyond mapping the cosmos, how is this telescope also solving the mystery of 'impossible' stellar signals and finding hidden pulsars?
This map reveals the universe's 'magnetic skeleton,' but were these cosmic fields born in the Big Bang or built up over time?
Mapping 350,000 Galaxies: The 2026 SPICE-RACS Breakthrough in Cosmic Magnetic Fields
Overview
For nearly two decades, astronomers relied on an outdated map of the universe's magnetic fields, with no major update since 2009. This gap limited scientific progress in understanding cosmic magnetism. In June 2026, this changed dramatically when the scientific community unveiled SPICE-RACS, the largest and most detailed map of cosmic magnetic fields ever created. This breakthrough achievement mapped 350,000 galaxies, filling the long-standing gap and promising to revolutionize our understanding of the universe's magnetic landscape.