Strong magnetic field of the peculiar red supergiant VY Canis Majoris

We report on magnetic field measurements associated with the well-known extreme red supergiant (RSG), VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa). We measured both linear and circular polarization of the SiO v = 0, J = 1 - 0 transition using a sensitive radio interferometer. The measured magnetic field strengths are surprisingly high. A lower limit for the field strength is expected to be at least ~ 10 Gauss based on the high degree of linear polarization. Since the field strengths are very high, the magnetic field must be a key element in understanding the stellar evolution of VY CMa as well as the dynamical and chemical evolution of the complex circumstellar envelope of the star.