The moon is not empty! New study clues into lunar core composition

According to some followers of conspiracy theories, the Moon is hollow, but scientists do not deeply agree with this view. In a new study published in the journal Nature, researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) describe the composition of the Moon’s core.

As the study explains, The inner core of the Moon consists of a ball-shaped solid metal with a density similar to that of iron.. The scientists analyzed seismic data and acoustic waves to understand what the composition of the natural satellite’s interior was – the same technology was used to discover what’s in the cores of Earth and Mars.

To make the discovery, the team of scientists used lunar data collected during space missions and experiments with lunar lasers. So, they compiled various characteristics of the natural satellite, such as the change in distance and density relative to the Earth, the degree of deformation caused by gravitational interaction with our planet, among other attributes.

Scientists already know that the Moon consists of a liquid outer core, but the composition of Earth’s inner core is still up for debate. For this reason, The new study suggests that the lunar core is very similar to Earth’s core, with a liquid outer layer followed by a solid inner layer.

Composition of the Moon’s core

In modeling the lunar core, the researchers found that the outer core has a radius of about 362 kilometers; The inner core is about 258 kilometers long and has a density of about 7,822 kilograms per cubic meter. In other words, its similarity with the density of iron suggests that the center of the Moon is similar to the Earth’s core.

They also noticed that the denser material in the moon’s core falls towards the center and the less dense material rises – this movement is known as convection. The study suggests this would explain certain elements in volcanic regions on the Moon, such as the presence of iron-like compounds on the Moon’s surface.

Presumably, study data will be confirmed when NASA returns to the Moon with its new manned mission, Artemis II, scheduled for mid-2024.

“Our results question the evolution of the Moon’s magnetic field by demonstrating the presence of the inner core, and support a global mantle-overturn scenario that provides important information about the timeline of lunar bombardment in the Solar System’s first billion years,” said study leader and CNRS astronomer Arthur Briaud.