J/ApJ/961/13ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/961/13CDSDoi Y.Nakamura K.Kawabata K.S.Matsumura M.Akitaya H.Coude S.,Rodrigues C.V.Kwon J.Tamura M.Tahani M.Magalhaes A.M.,Santos-Lima R.Angarita Y.Versteeg J.Haverkorn M.Hasegawa T.,Sadavoy S.Arzoumanian D.Bastien P.2026-05-05T08:28:19Z2026-05-05T08:27:21ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frgalaxiesvisible-astronomypolarimetrystellar-distanceextinctionThe Galactic global magnetic field is thought to play a vital role in shaping Galactic structures such as spiral arms and giant molecular clouds. However, our knowledge of magnetic field structures in the Galactic plane at different distances is limited, as measurements used to map the magnetic field are the integrated effect along the line of sight. In this study, we present the first ever tomographic imaging of magnetic field structures in a Galactic spiral arm. Using optical stellar polarimetry over a 17'x10' field of view, we probe the Sagittarius spiral arm. Combining these data with stellar distances from the Gaia mission, we can isolate the contributions of five individual clouds along the line of sight by analyzing the polarimetry data as a function of distance. The observed clouds include a foreground cloud (d<200pc) and four clouds in the Sagittarius arm at 1.23, 1.47, 1.63, and 2.23kpc. The column densities of these clouds range from 0.5 to 2.8x10^21^cm^-2^. The magnetic fields associated with each cloud show smooth spatial distributions within their observed regions on scales smaller than 10pc and display distinct orientations. The position angles projected on the plane of the sky, measured from the Galactic north to the east, for the clouds in increasing order of distance are 135{deg}, 46{deg}, 58{deg}, 150{deg}, and 40{deg}, with uncertainties of a few degrees. Notably, these position angles deviate significantly from the direction parallel to the Galactic plane.2024ApJ...961...13Dhttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/961/13CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicerelated-toII/226 : Stellar polarization catalogs agglomeration (Heiles, 2000)I/352 : Distances to 1.47 billion stars in Gaia EDR3 (Bailer-Jones+, 2021)I/355 : Gaia DR3 Part 1. Main source (Gaia Collaboration, 2022)I/357 : Gaia DR3 Part 3. Non-single stars (Gaia Collaboration, 2022)VIII/76 : Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) Survey of Galactic HI (Kalberla+ 2005)J/ApJS/208/20 : Nine-year WMAP point source catalogs (Bennett+, 2013)J/ApJ/834/57 : MW molecular clouds from ^12^CO (Miville-Deschenes+, 2017)J/ApJS/234/11 : Pulsar rotation measures (Han+, 2018)J/A+A/625/A135 : Gal. interstellar dust Gaia-2MASS 3D maps (Lallement+, 2019)J/ApJ/872/56 : R-band linear polarization of Gaia stars (Panopoulou+, 2019)J/ApJ/885/131 : High-mass SFR plx & proper motion with VLBI (Reid+, 2019)J/MNRAS/493/351 : A large catalogue of molecular clouds (Chen+, 2020)J/ApJS/249/23 : Gal. Plane Infrared Polarization Survey, DR4 (Clemens+, 2020)J/ApJ/914/122 : Stellar polarimetry with Gaia DR2 data (Doi+, 2021)https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/961/13https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/961/13http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/961/13https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/961/13https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/961/13http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/961/13GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/ApJ/961/13/table6 (Data identification (Appendix B))https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/961/13/table6?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/961/13/table6?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/961/13/table6?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true275.36306-17.349210.0055555555555555566/29107 29113https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/ApJ/961/13?format=asciiOpticaldefaultJ/ApJ/961/13/table6Data identification (Appendix B)recnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintGaiaGaia DR3 identifiermeta.id;meta.mainRA_ICRS[275.25/275.54] Gaia DR3 Right Ascension (ICRS) at Ep=2016.0degpos.eq.ra;meta.mainDE_ICRS[-17.43/-17.26] Gaia DR3 Declination (ICRS) at Epoch=2016.0degpos.eq.dec;meta.mainGLON[14/14.3] Galactic longitudedegpos.galactic.lonAG[0.006/4.9]? Gaia DR3 median G band extinctionmagphys.absorption;stat.median;em.optfloatnullableb_AG[0.001/4.9]? The 16th percentile in AGmagstat.error;stat.min;phys.absorptionfloatnullableB_AG[0.016/4.9]? The 84th percentile in AGmagstat.error;stat.max;phys.absorptionfloatnullableGLAT[-1.61/-1.31] Galactic latitudedegpos.galactic.latdoubleRgeo[172.7/2980] Median distance from Bailer-Jones+ 2021, I/352pcpos.distance;stat.medianfloate_Rgeo[170/2824] The 16th percentile in Rgeopcstat.error;stat.min;pos.distancefloatE_Rgeo[175/3136] The 84th percentile in Rgeopcstat.error;stat.max;pos.distancefloatqGal