This figure was made by Geza Erdos of the KFKI in Budapest. It shows the polarity of the Sun's magnetic field as Ulysses travled from the south pole to the north pole. Click on image for full size (64K GIF) Courtesy of Imperial College

This image shows the magnetic field polarity that Ulysses measured while traveling from 80 degrees South to 80 degrees North during 1994-1995. The measurements have been mapped onto a sphere corresponding to appropriate solar latitudes and longitudes. Blue values represent regions where the magnetic field pointed toward the Sun, red where it pointed away.

The North and South pole switch magnetic direction or polarity every 11 years. This reversal follows the sunspot cycle and is thought to be due to dynamo processes occuring in the solar interior. Green lines represent the boundaries between the two hemispheres. Agreement between actual measurements and predicted models is good, though some discrepancies exist. Work is ongoing on this topic.

This figure was made by Geza Erdos of the KFKI in Budapest. It shows the polarity of the Sun's magnetic field as Ulysses travled from the south pole to the north pole. Click on image for full size (64K GIF) Courtesy of Imperial College

This image shows the magnetic field polarity that Ulysses measured while traveling from the South pole to the North pole of the Sun. Blue values represent regions where the magnetic field pointed toward the Sun, red where it pointed away. Green lines represent the boundaries between the two hemispheres.

You can better understand this if you imagine the Sun having a huge bar magnet inside of it. If the positive end of the magnet was at the north pole of the Sun, magnetic field lines would come from the north pole of the Sun (pointing away like in the picture) and would loop around to the south pole of the Sun (pointing in toward the Sun like in the picture).

Scientists are still working to better understand the magnetic field of the Sun.

This figure was made by Geza Erdos of the KFKI in Budapest. It shows the polarity of the Sun's magnetic field as Ulysses travled from the south pole to the north pole. Click on image for full size (64K GIF) Courtesy of Imperial College

Ulysses is a spacecraft that is traveling around the Sun. Ulysses is orbiting around the top and bottom of the Sun. No other spacecraft has ever done this...so Ulysses gets to measure things no other spacecraft ever has!

One thing Ulysses has been measuring is the Sun's magnetic field. It's like the Sun has a big magnet inside of it and Ulysses is measuring how strong that magnet is. This picture shows which direction the magnetic field of the Sun is pointing. Where it's blue, the magnetic field points in toward the Sun and where it's red it's pointed away.

The magnetic field of the Sun is very complicated, so don't worry if you don't understand everything. Even scientists are still trying to figure things out!