The Sun is above all known for its electromagnetic radiation, generated by the nuclear fusion taking place in its core. The Sun has another significant characteristic: its magnetic field. This is created by the dynamo effect, in other words the movement of the conducting matter inside the star. This powerful magnetism can have a major impact on the planets. Understanding and predicting the Sun’s magnetic field is therefore vital for life on Earth. This is referred to as “space weather”.
The astrophysicist Antoine Strugarek, a star specialist, explains how the solar dynamo works. This will help with understanding Chapter 7 dealing with the connections between stars and their planets.
For more information: The solar dynamo has a 22-year cycle. This video produced by NASA clearly explains this phenomenon (configure the subtitle settings for a French translation). If you want to find out more about the solar cycle, we recommend that you watch the 3 December 2019 conference by the researcher Karine Bocchialini, a Professor at the Orsay Faculty of Science and a physicist at the Orsay Space Astrophysics Institute (IAS), as part of the IAP’s public conferences.
ESA’s Solar Orbiter satellite was recently launched and one of its goals is to understand solar magnetism. A recent Virtual Reality application enables you to find out all about this satellite: Solar Expedition.