Abstract
THE discovery of a linearly polarized component of the radiation from pulsars1 led to an attempt2 to measure the Faraday rotation of the plane of polarization as the radio waves traversed the ionized interstellar gas, in the expectation that the result could be used to find a value for the interstellar magnetic field. This first attempt, using radio waves at 151 MHz from the pulsar CP 0950, showed a surprisingly small Faraday rotation, consistent with a field of less than 2 × 10−7 gauss. It was surmised at the time that this result might be peculiar to this particular line of sight.
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References
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SMITH, F. Faraday Rotation of Radio Waves from the Pulsars. Nature 220, 891–892 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/220891a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/220891a0
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