Using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a team of astronomers mapped out the magnetic field of G47, one of the Milky Way’s galactic bones (dense clouds of gas and dust that run through the middle of the arm of a spiral galaxy). Surprisingly, the map revealed a magnetic field with no clear pattern or direction. The researchers had expected the magnetic field to be similar to the more uniform fields seen in galactic bones in other arms of the Milky Way.