Massive stars may get magnetic fields when two stars merge together - study

• Published date: 12 April 2024
• Author: AARON REICH
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The findings of this study were published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Science

The result of this study carried out after nine years of observations, sheds light on one of the strange qualities of magnetic stars - something scientists never knew how to explain before.

A polarizing find? How magnetic stars form

Magnetic fields are a sort of physical area that has magnetic influence. This can be seen in how they impact electrical currents and charges and how they work on magnetic materials.

Contrary to popular belief, magnetism goes far beyond metals—that's actually something known as ferromagnetism, and it's just one kind. Magnetism itself is a force formed when things are either attracted to or repelled by each other, and it is far more widespread than just in metals.

Everything is, to an extent, magnetic. This is because everything is made of atoms, and atoms have electrons, which have electric charges. When electrons move around, they start to make an electric current, and each electron becomes a very tiny magnet on its own right. Normally, most things have the same amount of electrons spinning in different directions, which cancels out magnetism. Ferromagnetic metals like iron don't have this equilibrium, so they are more obviously magnetic.

But magnets aren't just magnetic. To be a magnet, you need a magnetic field, which has north and south poles—the opposite poles attract each other, while the same type of poles repel each other.

So, how do you have a magnetic field? Well, on a smaller scale, you can run electricity through it, and a magnetic field will temporarily form. But what about on a bigger scale?

Let's look, for example, at the single largest magnet on Earth: the Earth itself.

The Earth's magnetic field starts inside the planet and goes out into space. This magnetic field is incredibly vital for life on Earth because it can repel certain electrically charged particles from cosmic rays and solar winds. If the magnetic field wasn't in place, these rays and winds could destroy parts of the atmosphere, essentially leaving the planet and everything on it vulnerable to harmful radiation.

While scientists don't entirely understand it, the general consensus is that the Earth's magnetic field is formed in the Earth's outer core. A process caused geodynamo causes heat to escape the core, which causes iron and nickel in the core to heat up, becoming molten, and move around. This movement is known as a convection current, and it ends up...