The sun's magnetic heartbeat is moving closer to its surface — and scientists heard it happening

The sun rings like a giant bell, and physicist Bill Chaplin's team at the University of Birmingham has been listening. Using nearly 40 years of data from six telescopes worldwide, the team found that changes tied to the sun's 11-year magnetic cycle are becoming concentrated in a shallow layer within about 1,000 km of the surface — a structural shift that surface observations alone couldn't reveal. Reported in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the finding could sharpen forecasts of space weather that threatens satellites, GPS, and power grids.