Science, Space and Technology News 2024
The baby star at the center surrounded by a bright disk called a protostellar disk. Spikes of magnetic flux, gas, and dust in blue. Researchers found that the protostellar disk will expel magnetic flux, gas, and dust—much like a sneeze—during a star’s formation. Credit: ALMA radio telescope in Chile, the team discovered that the protostellar disk surrounding a nascent star expels plumes of dust, gas, and electromagnetic energy in its early stages.
For this reason, researchers have hypothesized that there is a mechanism during star development that would remove that magnetic flux. The prevailing view was that the magnetic field gradually weakened over time as the cloud was pulled into the stellar core.To get to the bottom of this mysterious phenomenon, the team set their sights on MC 27, a stellar nursery located approximately 450 light-years from Earth.
“This is a phenomenon called ‘interchange instability’ where instabilities in the magnetic field react with the different densities of the gases in the protostellar disk, resulting in an outward expelling of magnetic flux. We dubbed this a baby star’s ‘sneeze’ as it reminded us of when we expel dust and air at high speeds.”
The team expects their findings will improve our understanding of the intricate processes that shape the universe that continue to captivate the interest of both the astronomical community and the public.
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