The Moon used to have a magnetic field , power similarly to how the geodynamo power the magnetic attraction of Earth . Unlike our planet though , the Moon became solid and the magnetic field disappeared . But before it diminished completely , it appears to have had a resurgence , according to the latest analysis of the rock carried back to Earth fromChang’e 6 .
The mission is the only one to have brought back fabric from the far side of the Moon . It landed on June 1 , 2024 , inside theApollo crater , which is 537 kilometers ( 334 miles ) across . This declamatory crater actually sits in an even larger depression : the South Pole - Aitken Basin , an area of massive interest for understand theMoon ’s past .
Chang’e 6 institute back almost two kilograms ( 4.4 pounds ) of material , most of which is go out at 2.8 billion years sure-enough . That material has been used to bring out activityon the Moon , but also contained the surprisal about the charismatic field .
Previous rock had shown that the magnetic theatre of operations had been dropping , with a peculiarly sharp diminution 3.1 billion year ago . research worker had assumed that by 3 billion years ago , the magnetic field was fundamentally tiny until it break off all .
But the Chang’e 6 sample distribution register a plain around 2.8 billion yr ago of between 5 and 21 microteslas . That ’s between 10 and 40 percent of our planet ’s magnetic field today , and strong than the measuring from 3.1 billion year ago . Somehow the weakening reversed for a while . The question is , how ?
unite this data point , with analysis of rocks from other situation around the Moon , the team suggests that between 3.5 and 2.8 billion age ago , the Moon experienced a very unstable dynamo . As a consequence , the strength of the magnetic field rise and waned .
They believe that the lunar magnetized field might have been drive by themagma oceanthought to have exist for a time inside the Moon . An alternative theory is that it was a resultant of the interplay between the various rotational force of the Moon , though it is potential that a compounding of the two could be the understanding as well . The meat of the Moon crystalizing might also play a role .
There is understandably more to find out about the Moon ’s preceding magnetism and how it changed over time before it finally come to an end .
The subject field is published in the journalNature .
