Sun's magnetic 'heartbeat' is discovered

By Elizabeth HowellSpace.comA magnetic "solar heartbeat" beats deep in the sun's interior, generating energy that leads to solar flares and sunspots, according to new research.A new supercomputer simulation, described in Thursday's edition of the journal Science, probes the sun's periodic magnetic field reversals. Every 40 years, according to the model, the sun's zonal magnetic field bands switch ...