Home

Highlights - Volume 485-1 (July I 2008)

Details: Published on 09 June 2008

HIGHLIGHTS: this week in A&A

Volume 485-1 (July I 2008)

In section 9. The Sun

“Turbulent magnetic pumping in a Babcock-Leighton solar dynamo model”, by G.A. Guerrero and E. M. de Gouveia Dal Pino, A&A 485, p. 267

In a turbulent ionized gas, gradients of pressure and turbulence can transport magnetic flux. This turbulent pumping can affect the processes in a Babcook-Leighton dynamo, and this helps us understand the activity cycles of the Sun and other stars. The present paper suggests that the turbulent pumping governs the observed motion of the activity in the direction of the equator and the storage of magnetic flux during the cycle.

In section 6. Interstellar and circumstellar matter

“Molecular jets driven by high-mass protostars: a detailed study of the IRAS 20126+4104 jet”, by A. Caratti o Garatti, D. Froebrich, J. Eislöffel, T. Giannini, and B. Nisini, A&A 485, p. 137

The question of how high-mass protostars form and develop is still very open. Observational study is complicated by their distance and by the fact that they typically form in clusters. IRAS 20126+4104 is interesting because it seems to be a relatively isolated object slightly below 10 solar masses at a reasonable distance (1.7 kpc). Caratti o Garatti et al. publish a study in this issue of the outflow-jet system associated with this protostar using NIR data from UKIRT and TNG. The results are consistent with precession of the jet (suggesting a binary) and a high mass-loss rate (~7.5x10-4 solar masses per year-1).