麻豆淫院

A new study in Nature Astronomy, led by Dr. Jie Yu, from the Australian National University, reveals that stars in close binary systems鈥攑airs of stars orbiting each other at close range鈥攃an exhibit unexpectedly high levels of magnetic activity.

This activity, responsible for flares, sunspots, and other energetic outbursts, is usually powered by the star's rotation. For single stars, surface magnetic activity increases with stellar rotation rate, but only up to a known limit, beyond which activity saturates.

Using data from China's LAMOST telescope and Europe's Gaia space observatory, Dr. Yu's team found that close binary stars break this rule. Instead of leveling off, many of these stars show even stronger magnetic activity. And in the most extreme cases鈥攚here stars spin especially fast (orbital period < 0.5 days)鈥攖he activity curiously begins to decline, a phenomenon known as supersaturation.

The findings suggest that tidal forces between closely orbiting stars can amplify or reshape their magnetic behavior. Understanding these effects offers new insight into stellar evolution and the magnetic environments that surround stars鈥攁n important factor in determining the habitability of exoplanets.