They discover the origin of the moon’s mysterious magnetic anomalies

In the 70s. Apollo 15 and 16 missions found on the moon magnetic anomalies what caught your attention. These are specific points where the magnetic activity is more intense, and they were conspicuous because, unlike the Earth, our satellite does not have magnetic shield what surrounds it Over time, this phenomenon was studied and it was concluded that these are perhaps the remnants of the past in which this shield really existed. However, there were still some factors that didn’t quite add up. However, now a group of scientists from Chinese National Academy of Sciences put forward a much clearer hypothesis, finding a significant amount of magnetite in samples collected on the Moon by the Chang’e-5 mission.

Previous studies have already pointed to the presence of this mineral on the Moon. However, they did not discover that it could be very abundant and were not sure of its origin. Now, in this study, published in Natureindicated that there may be a lot of it in lunar surface and that perhaps this is the result of the fall of various meteorites into the territory of the selenites.

This would be a piece of information that would explain much better magnetic anomalies of the moon. But it would also yield many other interesting facts.

What is magnetite?

Magnetite is an iron ore composed mainly of ferrous oxide. However, it can be combined with other elements or minerals such as chrome or quartz.

People use it in a multitude of applications, from protecting the inside of boiler pipes to specificwhere it is added as an additive. However, naturally, it is used by many living things, such as migratory birds that are able to follow magnetic fields and magnetite.

In the case of the moon, it seems that it generates magnetic activity which may have interesting and natural applications. For example, it is suspected that these magnetic anomalies they may have been responsible for maintaining some of the ice reserves despite the lack of a complete magnetic shield.

Images of the Moon taken by the Orion capsule of the Artemis I mission.

Magnetic anomalies on the moon

The magnetite found in this study was found in submicroscopic spherical iron sulfide grains like melted drops. This, according to additional thermodynamic models, may be the result of strong impacts on the lunar surface.

It also explains that, unlike the Earth, material covering the mooncalled regolith, undergoes constant bombardment of the sun with protons, which in turn generates an excess of electrons. As a result, it is more difficult for iron to combine with oxygen and form minerals such as magnetite itself. However, this can be facilitated under very specific conditions.

In this study, they note that “the morphological characteristics of the iron sulfide grains and the distribution of oxygen suggest that synthesis gas phase reaction during strong impacts“. This impact could explain everything they observed. In fact, this is consistent with previous research that suggests that meteorites may have injected ferromagnetic materials onto the lunar surface on impact.

In this case, they go a little further and suggest that the intensity of these impacts could also have turned the materials into submicroscopic magnetitemaking them “an important source of ferromagnetic material on the lunar surface”.

This is all very useful, as magnetite can be used to trace magnetic fields through history. Also, to identify possible life indicators. This discovery can tell us a lot, since at the moment it reveals the mystery of the Moon’s magnetic anomalies, but what this means has only just begun to be explored.