Solar magnetic field has good memory

2000/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

A group of scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have shown that the solar magnetic field is cyclical.

According to scientists, the magnetic field is constantly changing appearance and intensity, but every 11 solar cycles has the same shape and position, or has done so at least in recent decades. So far it has been considered that the appearance and intensity of this magnetic field was totally random, perhaps due to the lack of data on the activity of the Sun.

Scientists have analyzed data from the past 40 years, data collected from the beginning of the Space Age to date, and found a cycle in Sun behavior.

The magnetic field of the Sun can show us a lot about our star. It can serve, among other things, to understand cycles of solar wind intensity or to predict periods of high activity. In this sense, knowing that the Sun follows a stable cycle is good news, especially if we consider that its influence on Earth is enormous.