A diagram comparing Fisk's model to the older model.
Courtesy of University of Michigan, Fisk Team.
The Sun's Magnetic Field - New and Improved Model?
News story originally written on November 14, 1997
There are magnets all around us. Many of us use them to stick papers on
our refrigerator doors. Well, the Sun acts like it has a big magnet in
it. This magnetic force spreads out from the Sun in lines. They are
called magnetic field lines.
Lennard Fisk of the University of Michigan released a new model of the
Sun's magnetic field lines last year. His model is very different from
the model made in the 1950's.
Fisk's model says that the magnetic field lines coming from the Sun look
like a wild tornado (see picture to the left). The older model says the
magnetic field lines look like the path water would take while coming
from a lawn sprinkler.
More and more evidence (especially from the
Ulysses spacecraft) supports Fisk's model. Could this be a new
scientific discovery!? We'll see!
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