Solar magnetism: Memories are made of this.(research on solar magnetic field)

From: Science News | Date: February 12, 2000| Author: | Copyright information

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That old adage accurately describes the behavior of the solar magnetic field revealed by a new study. Waxing and waning, even flipping direction, the sun's magnetic field undergoes dramatic upheavals yet always returns to its original shape and position.

"The sun's magnetic field has a memory and [has returned] to approximately the same configuration" during each of the past three solar-activity cycles, says Marcia Neugebauer of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. She and her JPL colleagues base their ...

Read all of this article with a FREE trial to HighBeam Research

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

Ulysses pictures the sun's magnetic field. (in 1994 the space craft Ulysses positioned above the South Pole recorded as radio waves, the spiral shape of the magnetic field between the planets and the sun)(Brief Article)
; ...a pinwheel, the magnetic field streaming from the sun's equatorial latitudes...properties of the sun conspire to create...which carries the sun's magnetic field outward, and the sun's rotation, which...interplanetary magnetic field because they ...
SOHO craft helps solve a solar mystery.(Solar and Heliospheric Observatory observations find magnetic field bundles on the surface of the sun that release energy toward corona)(Brief Article)
; ...energy stored in the sun's magnetic field could do the trick...continuously at the sun may go a long way...visible surface of the sun is carpeted with tens of thousands of magnetic field bundles that loop...released by the magnetic field lines gets ...
Powerful appeal of Mars' 'missing' field. (magnetic field)
; ...detect an induced magnetic field above the planet, formed where the sun-spawned ions called...gravity. Mars and the sun, however, may have...which the planet's magnetic field once held the solar...distance from the sun of about 2.25 times...of the intrinsic magnetic ...
Magnetic Field Uses Sound Waves to Ignite Sun's Ring of Fire
; ...show that the Sun's magnetic field allows the release...locked in the Sun's interior," said...atmosphere above. "The Sun's interior vibrates...way using the magnetic field as a guide," continued...strong knots of magnetic field, sound waves from...interior of the ...
Is Earth's faltering magnetic field turning south?
; ...with dire effects on the magnetic field that protects the planet...energy-charged particles from the sun. People with pacemakers...known for some time that the magnetic field is in fact collapsing...increasingly wonder whether the magnetic field has begun one of its ...
Astronomy: `Snapshot' of Sun's Magnetic Field
; ...the pinwheel shape of the sun's interplanetary magnetic field. The image traces spiral arms (representing magnetic lines of force) as they flow outward from the sun. The observations confirm...orbit and headed around the sun's poles. In October 1994...
Astronomers make magnetic map of a star. (using a series of radio telescopes, scientists have measured the magnetic field of TX Camelopardalis, a star about 1,000 light years from earth)(Brief Article)
; ...destiny of stars. The sun is close enough to...mapped in detail the magnetic field of a star other than the sun. Relying on the sharp...measured the average magnetic field near the surface of...stronger than the sun's, they report in...can't measure the magnetic ...
Magnetic field detected on star
; ...magnetism on a star. The magnetic field on Tau Bootis, 50...the first of a magnetic field on a star that is not the sun -- is published in...starlight." The Earth's magnetic field, by comparison, is...is similar to the sun, but is orbited every...She said the star's ...
MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR DETECTS MARTIAN MAGNETIC FIELD AS AEROBRAKING BEGINS
; ...opportunity in the mission to collect close- in magnetic field data. Much more additional data will be...strength not exceeding 1/800ths of the magnetic field at the Earth's surface. This result is the first conclusive evidence of a magnetic field at Mars. More distant observations ...
Wandering poles: the mystery of the Earth's magnetic field reversals may at last be solved.(Geology)
; ...Union that the Earth's magnetic field decreased by 10 percent...for navigation. The sun is forever kicking...charged particles. The magnetic field diverts them, producing...more protons from the sun, a weakened magnetic field can also change the...