All posts tagged: Magnetic

Cassini-Huygens mission finds lopsided shift in Saturn’s magnetic bubble

Cassini-Huygens mission finds lopsided shift in Saturn’s magnetic bubble

Published by Jenni Sidey

Saturn’s magnetic shield does not sit where many scientists would expect. After combing through years of data from the Cassini spacecraft, researchers found that a key opening in Saturn’s magnetosphere, the region where solar wind particles can slip into the planet’s atmosphere, is pushed well away from the noon position seen at Earth. Instead, it tends to sit in the afternoon sector, usually between 13:00 and 15:00 local time, and sometimes stretches as far as 20:00. That skew, the team says, points to a basic difference in how giant planets work. The finding comes from a study in Nature Communications based on Cassini-Huygens mission data collected between 2004 and 2010. The researchers argue that Saturn’s rapid rotation, combined with the heavy plasma supplied largely by its moon Enceladus, reshapes the planet’s magnetic environment in a way that sets it apart from Earth’s more solar-wind-driven system. At Earth, the cusp of the magnetosphere usually lines up near local noon. That is where magnetic field lines bend in a way that allows charged solar particles to funnel …

New form of friction arises purely from magnetic interactions – no contact required

New form of friction arises purely from magnetic interactions – no contact required

Published by Jenni Sidey

Friction usually announces itself through contact. A chair scraping across a floor, a tire gripping asphalt, a hand sliding over fabric. For centuries, the rule seemed simple: press harder, and resistance grows. That idea, formalized in Amontons’ law, has guided physics since the 17th century. Now a tabletop experiment suggests a very different picture can emerge when nothing touches at all. Researchers at the University of Konstanz have identified a form of friction that arises purely from magnetic interactions. No surfaces rub together. No material wears down. Yet resistance appears, peaks, and then fades again as conditions change. The familiar rule linking friction to load no longer holds in a straightforward way. Instead of steadily increasing, friction rises to a maximum and then drops, all because of how tiny magnetic elements struggle to agree with each other. Experimental set-up, total friction and order parameter. (CREDIT: Nature) When More Pressure Does Not Mean More Resistance Amontons’ law rests on a simple observation. Heavier objects press surfaces together, increasing microscopic contact points and boosting friction. That logic …

Large-scale waves are forming deep inside our Sun

Large-scale waves are forming deep inside our Sun

Published by Jenni Sidey

They move through the Sun like slow, immense swells, far below anything telescopes can see. For years, those depths have remained out of reach. Light cannot escape them, and direct measurements are impossible. Yet a new analysis suggests that the Sun’s interior is not silent. It carries large-scale waves shaped by magnetic forces, and those waves can be tracked from afar. Listening Instead of Looking The Sun does not sit still. Its surface and interior constantly tremble with subtle oscillations. Scientists have long used these vibrations to study its structure, a method often compared to seismology on Earth. Theoretical dispersion relations of magneto-Rossby modes and the associated magnetic fields. (CREDIT: Nature) This time, the focus shifted deeper. By carefully analyzing long-term data, the team identified a pattern that had gone unnoticed. The signals suggested the presence of global-scale waves moving through the Sun’s interior, influenced not just by rotation or heat, but by magnetism. “These waves give us a unique look at the Sun’s hidden magnetic system,” said Shravan Hanasoge, co-principal investigator at the center …

Gamma Cassiopeiae may be hiding a magnetic white dwarf companion

Gamma Cassiopeiae may be hiding a magnetic white dwarf companion

Published by Jenni Sidey

Visible without a telescope, γ Cassiopeiae has stood out for decades because it behaves unlike an ordinary massive star. Its X-rays are far too intense, far too hot, and far too erratic. Now, a team led by astronomers at the University of Liège says those X-rays do not come from the star itself. They come from a white dwarf circling it. The finding, published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, could do more than explain one strange object. It may also confirm a long-predicted class of binary star systems that had remained frustratingly hard to pin down. γ Cas was the first Be star identified, back in 1866 by Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi. Be stars spin rapidly and throw off material that forms a disc around them. But in 1976, astronomers noticed something odd: γ Cas was emitting X-rays about 40 times stronger than similar massive stars, with plasma heated to more than 100 million degrees. That made it an outlier. Later observations found around two dozen similar objects, now known as γ Cas analogues. Illustration of …

Scientists are rethinking how young galaxies formed their magnetic fields

Scientists are rethinking how young galaxies formed their magnetic fields

Published by Jenni Sidey

Magnetic fields that stretch across thousands of light-years should take a very long time to organize. Standard dynamo theory puts that timeline at roughly 5 to 10 billion years in galaxies. Yet astronomers have spotted coherent magnetic fields in galactic and protogalactic environments at high redshifts, including reports up to redshift 2.6 and even 5.6. That mismatch has been a stubborn problem. A new study in Physical Review Letters argues that part of the answer may lie in the chaos of galaxy formation itself. Instead of treating magnetic growth as something that unfolds in a settled system, the researchers looked at what happens while a galaxy is still assembling from a collapsing cloud of ionized gas. “However, dynamo theory has its limitations”, says Pallavi Bhat, an assistant professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences and an author of the study. “In particular, it struggles to explain observations of young galaxies with robust magnetic fields across thousands of light-years”. Collapsing plasma cloud with uniform magnetic field (red). Top Right: Compression alone amplifies the field. Bottom …

Miniature magnet rivals magnetic behemoths in strength for the first time

Miniature magnet rivals magnetic behemoths in strength for the first time

Published by skeptic

Even small magnets can sometimes be exceptionally powerful ResonX /Jasmin Schoenzart A magnet small enough to fit in the palm of your hand can match the strength of some of the world’s most powerful magnets for the first time. Strong magnets play many roles across science and technology, with uses in everything from MRI imaging and particle accelerators to nuclear fusion efforts. The most powerful among them are made from superconductors, materials that conduct electricity with near-perfect efficiency. But superconducting magnets that produce strong magnetic fields are often bulky: smaller ones are typically the same size as the Star Wars robot R2D2, while the largest are comparable to a two-storey building, says Alexander Barnes at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He and his colleagues have now built a superconducting magnet that is competitive with those large magnets in strength, but measures only 3.1 millimetres in diameter. They made it by coiling a thin tape of a ceramic material called REBCO, which superconducts when cooled to extremely low temperatures. These coils produce magnetic fields when electric currents …

Quantum spin study reveals a previously unknown state of matter

Quantum spin study reveals a previously unknown state of matter

Published by Jenni Sidey

At temperatures approaching absolute zero, most magnetic materials settle into tidy patterns. Their tiny magnetic moments, or spins, align in one of two ways: all pointing in the same direction in ferromagnetic order, or alternating neatly in an antiferromagnetic pattern. But a compound of cerium, magnesium, aluminum, and oxygen — CeMgAl₁₁O₁₉ — refuses to follow those rules. For decades, scientists assumed it was a quantum spin liquid, a rare state where spins remain disordered even in extreme cold. New experiments reveal that assumption was wrong, uncovering a previously unknown state of matter. “This material had been classified as a quantum spin liquid due to two properties: observation of a continuum of states and lack of magnetic ordering,” said Bin Gao, co-first author and research scientist at Rice University. “But closer observation of the material showed that the underlying cause of these observations wasn’t a quantum spin liquid phase.” Rice University Professor Pengcheng Dai. (CREDIT: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) Unlike quantum spin liquids, where spins fluctuate between many low-energy states because of quantum mechanics, CeMgAl₁₁O₁₉ shows similar …

Apple ‘HomePad’ to Offer Magnetic Snap-to-Wall Feature and More

Apple ‘HomePad’ to Offer Magnetic Snap-to-Wall Feature and More

Published by skeptic

Apple’s upcoming “HomePad” will offer a magnetic snap-to-wall feature and more, according to the leaker and prototype collector known as “Kosutami.” In a new post on X, Kosutami said that one of the HomePad prototypes features a MagSafe-like snap-to-wall capability, along with doorbell integration. It is said to be heavily reliant on Apple Intelligence. They apparently saw this prototype in person. Apple has reportedly been working on the device for several years, with the aim for it to serve as a centralized location for controlling smart home products, listening to music and podcasts, making video calls, and getting glanceable information like the weather and calendar events. The device is expected to have a 7-inch square display and a front-facing camera. Kosutami told MacRumors that while the name “HomePad” is being used internally, it is not clear if that is the product name that will actually be used upon launch. Earlier this week, the leaker said that the HomePad is now set to arrive in the fall of 2026. The fall runs from September to December, …

Researchers create an invisibility cloak by bending magnetic fields around real-world objects

Researchers create an invisibility cloak by bending magnetic fields around real-world objects

Published by Jenni Sidey

Magnetic invisibility sounds simple in theory. Place the right materials around an object and magnetic fields flow around it as if nothing were there. Reality has been far messier. For nearly two decades, physicists have tried to cloak objects from magnetic fields using carefully arranged materials. Early designs relied on idealized shapes such as perfect cylinders or spheres. Those forms behave predictably in equations and laboratory tests. Real devices rarely cooperate. Power cables twist through irregular housings. Electronic components form sharp corners. Industrial systems contain uneven edges and layered geometries. Once these shapes enter the picture, magnetic cloaking designs often fail, leaving obvious distortions in the surrounding field. Magnetic cloaking achieved using bilayer SC-SFM metastructures with different geometries. (CREDIT: Science Advances) Researchers at the University of Leicester now report a way around that problem. Their new framework, described in Science Advances, allows magnetic cloaks to be designed for objects with complex shapes using materials that already exist. Two Materials Working Together Magnetic cloaking typically relies on a pairing of two materials. The inner layer is …

Asteroid Ryugu fragments carry a magnetic record from the birth of the solar system

Asteroid Ryugu fragments carry a magnetic record from the birth of the solar system

Published by Jenni Sidey

A small, round piece of asteroid Ryugu (sample #91), called “S-lunar,” contains tiny particles (less than 1 mm) that will allow planetary scientists to study the magnetic signature of the early solar system. Using advanced magnetic techniques, the research team had previously detected several faint but measurable magnetic signatures emanating from the S-lunar particle. These features were present when the solar system was forming. The research team now provides more evidence to support the previously established hypothesis that the S-lunar particles contain the original magnetization caused by the fields present at the time of the solar nebula’s formation. They also demonstrate that many S-lunar particles have been impacted by the same natural remanent magnetization (NRM) mechanism. “Our sensitive magnetic measurements on these microsamples allowed us to clarify and reconcile the various interpretations of the experimental data previously reported by other research groups,” Sato said. “These data represent valuable evidence toward understanding how the early solar system evolved.” Interpretation of magnetic measurements. (a) Typical coercivity ranges of magnetic minerals for coarse grained magnetite, framboidal magnetite, and …