Letters from the October 28, 2006, issue of Science News

Slow down a minute

“Braking news: Disks slow down stars” (SN: 8/12/06, p. 109) says that a magnetic linkage between spinning stars and the charged particles in the dusty disks that surround them slowed the spin of the stars, but says nothing about its effect on the disk. The law of conservation of angular momentum dictates that the angular momentum lost by the star would be transferred to the charged particles in the disk, presumably raising their orbits around the star.