Sun-like star flips its magnetic field - Lessons for climate change?

[Karl]

An international group of astronomers have discovered that the sun-like star tau Bootis flipped its magnetic field from north to south sometime during the last year. It has been known for many years that the Sun's magnetic field changes its direction every 11 years, but this is the first time that such a change has been observed in another star. Magnetic field reversals on the sun are closely linked to the varying number of sunspots seen on the sun's surface. The last “solar minimum” time when the number of sunspots was the lowest and the magnetic flip occurred, was in 2007. The first sunspot of the new cycle appeared just last month.

The magnetic cycle of the Sun impacts the Earth's climate and is believed to have caused the “little ice age” in the seventeen century. The Earth's magnetic field also flips, although much less frequently and more erratically. The international team caught tau Bootis in the process of flipping its magnetic field while they were mapping the magnetic fields of stars. The astronomers will keep their telescopes focused on tau Bootis in coming years to make sure they catch the star's next magnetic turnover. Their goal is a better understanding of how magnetic engines work in stars, including our sun.

Slightly hotter and 20 percent more massive than the sun, tau Bootis is fairly bright and visible with the naked eye and located only 51 light-years away from us. It currently rises about midnight and is visible for most of the night near the bright star Arcturus in the constellation Bootis in the northeast part of the sky. This work is published in the British journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Source: Sun-like Star Flips Its Magnetic Field Like Our Sun: First Observation