Magnetic fields play an important—if sometimes underappreciated—part in planetary systems. Without a strong magnetic field, planets can end up as a barren wasteland like Mars, or they could ...

The magnetized rocks of Earth's crust and mantle, also known as the upper lithosphere, accounts for generating 6 percent of ...

Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system, has a magnetic field that has intrigued scientists for decades. Recent ...

Exoplanet habitability depends on a whole host of factors, with liquid water at the top of the list. It also requires a ...

Astronomers have captured polarized light coming from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, giving insight into its magnetic fields.

Illustration of the global coronal magnetic field as the sun rotates. The background is the solar corona observed in extreme-ultraviolet waveband, with global coronal magnetic field maps measured ...

The reason magnetic fields are so important is that they can shield a planet from solar wind and ionizing particles. Mars could get one through Phobos.

Researchers have proposed what's perhaps the most exotic explanation to date for the source of the universe's seed magnetic field: cosmic strings.

Their investigation connects a magnetic field reversal about 42,000 years ago to climate upheaval on a global scale, which caused extinctions and reshaped human behavior.