This book provides an introduction to our current knowledge of stellar magnetic activity. It is intended for graduate or advanced undergraduate students or researchers new to the field. Starting with the Sun, it extends to stars of all masses and ages. Topics include the production and measurement of the fields themselves, their effects on the stellar atmospheres, the diagnostics we use to understand them, and the effects of the magnetic activity on the star and its surrounds over time. This field is rapidly advancing, and the book will serve as an initial resource for those new to the area, or as an overview for those already involved who want a wider or historical perspective, along with suggestions as to which directions that new research might take. Key Features: Provides simple physical explanations of the diagnostics used to understand stellar activity Takes a historical approach to the subject, including a look to the future Refers to milestone articles, with an explanation of their importance Contains numerous diagrams, images, and videos Uses simple language to convey the science

This timely volume provides the first comprehensive review and synthesis of current understanding of magnetic fields in the Sun and similar stars. Magnetic activity results in a wealth of phenomena - including starspots, non-radiatively heated outer atmospheres, activity cycles, deceleration of rotation rates, and even, in close binaries, stellar cannibalism - all of which are covered clearly and authoritatively. This book brings together for the first time recent results in solar studies and stellar studies. The result is an illuminating new view of stellar magnetic activity. Key topics include radiative transfer, convective simulations, dynamo theory, outer-atmospheric heating, stellar winds and angular momentum loss. Researchers are provided with a state-of-the-art review of this exciting field, and the pedagogical style and introductory material make the book an ideal and welcome introduction for graduate students.

The first comprehensive review and synthesis of current understanding of magnetic fields in the Sun and similar stars.

Third edition textbook for use on advanced courses on stellar physics.

Most stars show some degree of magnetic activity, from the familiar variations in the Sun's magnetic field, which coincide with the sun-spot cycle, to the enormous magnetic fields created by rotating neutron stars. Magnetic fields are also a potential key to understanding the formation of new stars and the behavior of galactic nuclei. This book by one of the leading figures in stellar magnetism provides an authoritative survey of this rapidly developing field. Based on a lifetime of research, the book places stellar magnetism in a broad astronomical scope and provides a thorough, well-argued treatment of current work. It covers the key topics, discussing the relevant mathematics in detail and including numerous references, and many of the topics, particularly accretion discs, dynamos, and winds, are equally important to the study of galaxies and galactic nuclei.

These are the Proceedings of Colloquium No. 153 of the International Astro nomical Union, held at Makuhari near Tokyo on May 22 - 26, 1995, and hosted by the National Astronomical Observatory. This meeting was intended to be an interdisciplinary meeting between re searchers of solar and stellar activity, in order for them to exchange the newest information in each field. While each of these areas has seen remarkable advances in recent years, and while the researchers in each field have felt that information from the other's domain would be extremely useful in their own work, there have not been very many opportunities for intensive exchanges of information between these closely related fields. We therefore expected much from this meeting in pro viding stellar researchers with new results of research on the counterparts of their targets of research, spatially and temporarily resolved, as observed on the Sun. Likewise we hoped to provide solar researchers with new results on gigantic ver sions of their targets of research under the very different physical circumstances on other active stars. It was our greatest pleasure that we had wide attendance of experts and active researchers of both research fields from all over the world. This led to extremely interesting talks and very lively discussions, thereby stimulating the exchange of ideas across the fields.