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Why? Is it because the poles are aligned with earths, complimenting our own magnetic field?

It appears the magnetic poles are in continuous rotation [1], that sometimes aligns to the rotational poles and sometimes doesn't, with a "flip" event being the binary classification from the slow and smooth traversal over the equator. I feel silly, but I always assumed it was from some more fairly sharp step in the rate of change!

[1] https://www.stce.be/news/211/welcome.html

There is an animation further down that shows the magnetic field generated by the sun when it is a dipole. Apparently the 3-d wave like pattern better shields from cosmic rays originating outside the solar system.

Thanks

... interesting question though..

Is this related to why my part of the US has had UV notices lately?