Magnetism and the Search for Life

From ESO-Cast. Giant telescopes are being used to search for the subtle signs of magnetic fields in other stars and even to map out the star spots on their surfaces. This information is beginning to reveal how and why so many stars, including our own Sun, are magnetic, and what the implications might be for life on Earth and elsewhere in the Universe. Astronomers are beginning to use signs of magnetic fields generated by stars to assess the habitability of planets that orbit them.