Astral magnetic fields -: as observed in starforming nurseries, in stars, and in the Solar system

Cherchez le champ magnetique is trendy in astronomy. The magnetic field takes the hourglass shape in gravitationally contracting young stellar objects, helically wraps up the jets of protostars, guides particles in stellar coronae, explodes in stellar flares. causes unrest in pulsar quakes and creates planetary aurorae. In stars and pulsars, dipolar dynamo magnetic fields play a dominant r (o) over cap le in the gas dynamics. In planetary disks, the field is toroidal or archimedean spiral. Remanent magnetism is found in meteorites and asteroids. The astral magnetic fields can reach 10(18) G in magnetars, dwarfing anything we can do on Earth in stable conditions (10(7) G) or in pulsed conditions (10(10)) G). Magnetism plays a physical r (o) over cap le in starforming clouds and its concomittent structures, from stellar nurseries to protostars, down to planets and asteroids. Starting with star-forming clouds (approximate to10 pc=32 light-years=31 x 10(16) m), this reviews covers protostellar systems (approximate to1 cpc), circumstellar space (approximate to1 mpc), masers, interplanetary space (approximate to1 mupc), pulsars, stars, planets (approximate to1 npc), asteroids (similar to30 km; approximate to1 ppc), and meteorites (approximate to0.3 m; approximate to10 apc). (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.