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Magnetic dipole radiation is a type of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) generation that occurs in some astrophysical phenomena. EMR is generated by the combination oscillating magnetic and electric fields, and magnetic dipole radiation is the specific case where the instigator is a dipole magnetic field undergoing oscillation, which occurs (for example) in a magnetized object spinning such that the directions of its magnetic poles are constantly shifting, i.e., they are oblique to the axis of rotation. The changing magnetic field induces an electric field that also oscillates, the two forming electromagnetic waves, a phenomenon readily created artificially and also found in nature. It occurs at the atomic level within magnetic fields, and is regularly produced within the solar corona, the resulting EMR offering clues to the state of its magnetic field. The process is also considered the mechanism by which pulsars produce their "searchlight" beams of radio waves. The energy to create the pulsar's radiation is from its rotation, which consequently slows down over time.
The term magnetic dipole radiation is often used specifically for a particular mathematical model of such radiation, a simplification of the mathematics of electromagnetism which models the mechanism described above.