Many people will remember experiments in school with iron filings and bar magnets to unveil their magnetic field. It's not quite so easy to capture the magnetic field of the Milky Way though.

The iron filings in the image become induced magnets when they are near the bar magnet. They lose most or all of their magnetism when they are removed from the magnetic field.

Although we cannot see magnetic field lines, we can detect them using iron filings. The tiny pieces of iron line up in a magnetic field.

This can be "seen" in two dimensions if iron filings are sprinkled on a sheet ... as this helped to concentrate the magnetic field.

Iron filings align in solution under relatively small magnetic fields (<1T), similar to their behavior around traditional ...

Under relatively weak magnetic fields (<1T) they surprisingly stand at attention in solution almost like iron filings arrange themselves around a magnet. Furthermore, when in thin films they can ...

A flower-shaped structure only a few micrometres in size made of a nickel-iron alloy can concentrate and locally enhance magnetic fields. The size of the effect can be controlled by varying the ...

Under relatively weak magnetic fields (<1T) they surprisingly stand at attention in solution almost like iron filings arrange themselves around a magnet. Furthermore, when in thin films ...

Under relatively weak magnetic fields (<1T) they surprisingly stand at attention in solution almost like iron filings arrange themselves around a magnet. Furthermore, when in thin films they can ...