NASA's IXPE telescope has directly measured the magnetic field of PSR J1101−6101, a pulsar in the Lighthouse Nebula, for the first time. The measurement, led by Stanford undergraduate Jack Dinsmore, confirms a theory proposed since 2008 that high-energy particles escape the pulsar along the galaxy's magnetic field lines. Results published Thursday in the Astrophysical Journal show the magnetic field aligns with particle flow along the nebula's filament with over 99% confidence.
IXPE observed the nebula for nearly 18 days in June 2025, studying two X-ray structures extending from the 16-times-per-second spinning pulsar. The analysis found unexpectedly high polarization in the filament, suggesting lower magnetic turbulence than existing models predict. A separate finding showed radio observations detected a magnetic field pointing nearly perpendicular to the X-ray field, indicating different energies occupy distinct regions and may result from multiple particle acceleration mechanisms.