4 ms·

So you can use magnetic field information about a star to learn more about the planets (tidal forces) orbiting it?

• dvtrn 7y ago
  Yup! That and gravitational forces specifically are how we discovered Neptune-and, IIRC the exact same phenomenon has some scientists theorizing the existence of another planet or some other large gravitational mass way out in the Kuiper belt https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/0004-6256/151/2/22/meta https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/0004-6256/151/2/2...
  • strainer 7y ago
    Apologies for being pedantic but the link contains no mention of magnetic field information and Neptune's discovery would not have taken this into account either. Im fairly sure this has been done so far by analysing orbits in different ways, but Ive never heard of perturbations in solar system wide electro-magnetism (within solar wind) taken into account, or if that could be possible and effective to model in detail.
    • dvtrn 7y ago
      Perhaps I phrased my post poorly there and caused some confusion: I was trying to relay some supplemental information that just as tidal forces and their study are revealing new things about Sol, so were studies of tidal forces and gravitational mechanics instrumental in the discovery of other stellar masses in our solar system.