Simulation of the interior of a solar-type star. Credit: University of Montréal – DAp/CEA – AIM
Resolving an ongoing controversy about whether the star at the center of our Solar System exhibits the same cyclic behavior as other nearby, solar-type stars the new study results also advance scientists’ understanding of how stars generate their magnetic fields. The Sun’s activity – including changes in the number of sunspots, levels of radiation and ejection of material – varies on an eleven-year cycle, driven by changes in its magnetic field.
Understanding this cycle is one of the biggest outstanding problems in solar physics, in part because it does not appear to match magnetic cycles observed on other solar-type stars – leading some to suggest the Sun is fundamentally different.
Here, by c...
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