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Science 28 September 2001:
Vol. 293. no. 5539, pp. 2409 - 2410
DOI: 10.1126/science.1065304
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Perspectives

ASTRONOMY:
A Stellar Merry-Go-Round

Thierry Montmerle

Intermediate-mass stars have weak stellar winds. Some have in addition strong magnetic fields that are able to channel wind streams and even to confine wind particles into a closed, dipolar magnetosphere rotating with the star. The shock from the confined wind generates x-rays and radio waves while the cooling wind downstream of the shock is turned into "clouds" that absorb the ultraviolet radiation from the star. In his Perspective, Montmerle reviews recent studies into the properties of these unusual "magnetic stars."

The author is at the Service d'Astrophysique du Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Centre d'Etudes de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France. E-mail: montmerle{at}cea.fr

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)