Astronomers have discovered evidence of small stars with shockingly strong magnetic fields that might not be ideal hosts for habitable worlds. The findings could reveal a strange stellar evolution process and teach scientists more about such common, but mysterious, cosmic bodies.
This new research suggests unexpectedly intense magnetic fields arise around cool, small stars when the surfaces and interiors of those stars start out by rotating at the same speed but, over time, drift apart and spin out of sync. The team behind the study calls that internal mechanism core-envelope decoupling, a process that could ultimately impact our search for life elsewhere in the Milky Way.
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