Magnetic field lines from a computer simulation of the solar corona show some of the complexity of the Sun's magnetic field. Colors on the Sun's surface show the strength of the magnetic field (yellow is largest).
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The Sun's Magnetic Field
The Sun has a very large and very complex magnetic
field. The magnetic field at an average place on the Sun is around 1
Gauss, about twice as strong as the average field on the surface of Earth
(around 0.5 Gauss). Since the Sun's
surface is more than 12,000 times larger than Earth's, the overall influence
of the Sun's magnetic field is vast.
The magnetic field of the Sun actually extends far out into space, beyond
the furthest planet (Pluto). This distant extension
of the Sun's magnetic field is called the Interplanetary
Magnetic Field (IMF). The solar wind,
the stream of charged particles that flows outward from the Sun, carries the
IMF to the planets and beyond. The solar wind and IMF interact with planetary
magnetic fields in complex ways, generating phenomena such as the aurora.
Overall, the basic shape of the Sun's magnetic field is like the shape of Earth's
field... or like the field of a simple bar
magnet. However, superimposed on this basic field (called a dipole field) is a much more complex series of local fields that vary
over time. Places where the Sun's magnetic field is especially strong are
called active regions,
and often produce telltale sunspots.
The local magnetic field
in the neighborhood of a large sunspot can be as strong as 4,000 Gauss...
much, much greater than the Sun's average field. Disruptions in magnetic
fields near active regions can spawn energetic explosions on the Sun such
as solar flares and Coronal
Mass Ejections. The degree of complexity of the Sun's field waxes and
wanes over the course of each sunspot
cycle.
The exact nature and source of the Sun's magnetic field are areas of ongoing
research. Turbulent motions of charged plasmas in
the Sun's convective
zone clearly play a role. Some of the Sun's magnetism may even be a remnant
from the primordial cloud from
which the Sun formed.
Some of the spectacular structures seen in the solar atmosphere, such as solar prominences and
coronal loops, are fantastic visible indicators of material flowing along
magnetic field lines which arc thousands of kilometers above the Sun's surface.
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