Sunspot, filaments, plages, and flares — visible signs of the Sun’s magnetic field riddle its atmosphere. But divining magnetic activity inside the Sun is another matter entirely.
We can’t directly see the magnetic fields within stars, and that makes it difficult to connect a star’s visible tortured gas with the inner workings of its magnetic field. Everything from predicting the strength of the next solar cycle to describing stellar aging hinges on better understanding these fields.
Now, astronomers have found a way to indirectly discern magnetic fields, at least within certain types of stars.
Read the story at Sky & Telescope
Read the original press release
Full text research paper from arXiv