For decades, scientists have held that the Earth-Moon system formed as a result of a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized object roughly 4.5 billion years ago. Known as the Giant Impact Hypothesis, this theory explains why Earth and the Moon are similar in structure and composition. Interestingly enough, scientists have also determined that during its early history, the Moon had a magnetosphere – much like Earth does today.
However, a new study led by researchers at MIT (with support provided by NASA) indicates that at one time, the Moon’s magnetic field may have actually been stronger than Earth’s. They were also able to place tighter constraints on when this field petered out, claiming it would have happened about 1 billion years ago. These findings have helped resolve the mystery of what mechanism powered the Moon’s magnetic field over time.
The study, which recently appeared in the journal Science Advances, was led by Saied Mighani, an experimental rock physicist with MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. He was joined by members of the Berkeley Geochronology Center at UC Berkeley and the China University of Geosciences, with additional support provided by famed EAPS professor, Dr. Benjamin Weiss.
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To recap, Earth’s magnetic field is essential to life as we know it. When incoming solar wind particles reach Earth, they are deflected by this field and form a bow shock in front of Earth and magnetotail behind it. The remaining particles are deposited on the magnetic poles where they interact with our atmosphere, which causes the Aurorae seen in the far northern and southern hemispheres.
Were it not for this magnetic field, Earth’s atmosphere would have been slowly stripped away by solar wind over the course of billions of years and rendered a cold, dry place. This is believed to be what happened on Mars, where a once-thicker atmosphere was depleted between 4.2 and 3.7 billion years ago and all of the liquid water on its surface was either lost or froze as a result.
Over the years, Weiss’ group has helped demonstrate through the study of lunar rocks that roughly 4 billion years ago, the Moon also had a strong magnetic field of about 100 microteslas in strength (whereas Earth’sis around 50 microteslas today). In 2017, they studied samples collected by the Apollo astronauts that were dated to about 2.5 billion years ago and found a much weaker field (less than 10 microteslas).
In other words, the Moon’s magnetic field weakened by a factor of five between 4 and 2.5 billion years ago, then disappeared entirely about 1 billion years ago. At the time, Weiss and his colleagues theorized that perhaps there were two dynamo mechanisms in the Moon’s interior that were responsible for this change.
Measurements of lunar rocks have demonstrated that the ancient moon generated a dynamo magnetic field in its liquid metallic core (innermost red shell). Credit: Hernán Cañellas/Benjamin Weiss
In short, they argued that a first dynamo effect could have generated a much stronger magnetic field around 4 billion years ago. Then, 2.5 billion years ago, it was replaced by a second dynamo that was more long-lived but sustained a much weaker magnetic field. As Dr. Weiss explained in an MIT News release:
“There are several ideas for what mechanisms powered the lunar dynamo, and the question is, how do you figure out which one did it? It turns out all these power sources have different lifetimes. So if you could figure out when the dynamo turned off, then you could distinguish between the mechanisms that have been proposed for the lunar dynamo. That was the purpose of this new paper.”
Until now, obtaining lunar rocks that are less than 3 billion years old has been a major challenge. The reason for this has to do with the fact that volcanic activity, which was common on the Moon 4 billion years ago, ceased roughly 3 billion years ago. Luckily, the MIT team was able to identify two samples of lunar rock obtained by the Apollo astronauts that were created by an impact 1 billion years ago.
While these rocks were melted by the impact and then resolidified, thus erasing their magnetic record in the process, the team was able to perform tests on them to reconstruct their magnetic signature. First, they analyzed the orientation of the rock’s electrons, which Weiss describes as “little compasses” since they would either align in the direction of an existing magnetic field or appear in random orientations in the absence of one.
Moon rocks from the Apollo 11 mission. Credit: NASA
In both samples, the team observed the latter, which suggested that the rocks formed in an extremely weak magnetic field of no more than 0.1 microteslas (possibly none at all). This was followed by a radiometric dating technique that was adapted for this study by Weiss and David L. Shuster (a Berkeley Geochronology Center researcher and co-author of the study). These results confirmed that the rocks were indeed 1 billion years old.
Finally, the team conducted heat tests on the samples to determine if they could provide a good magnetic record at the time of the impact. This consisted of placing both samples in an oven and exposing them to the kinds of high temperatures that would have been created by an impact. As they cooled, they exposed them to an artificially-generated magnetic field in the laboratory and confirmed that they were able to record it.
These results confirm that the magnetic strength initially measured by the team (0.1 microteslas) is accurate and that by 1 billion years ago, the dynamo powering the Moon’s magnetic field had likely ended. As Weiss expressed:
“The magnetic field is this nebulous thing that pervades space, like an invisible force field. We’ve shown that the dynamo that produced the moon’s magnetic field died somewhere between 1.5 and 1 billion years ago, and seems to have been powered in an Earth-like way.”
Lunar footprint from the Apollo missions. Credit: NASA
As noted, this study also helps to resolve the debate surrounding what drove the lunar dynamo in its later stages. While multiple theories have been suggested, these new findings are consistent with the theory that core crystallization is responsible. Basically, this theory states that the Moon’s inner core crystallized over time, slowing the flow of electrically-charged fluid and arresting the dynamo.
Weiss suggests that prior to this, precession may have been responsible for powering a much stronger (but short-lived) dynamo which would have produced the strong magnetic field. This is consistent with the fact that 4 billion years ago, the Moon is thought to have orbited much closer to Earth. This would have resulted in Earth’s gravity having a far greater effect on the Moon, causing its mantle to wobble and stirring up activity in the core.
As the Moon slowly migrated away from Earth, the effect of precession decreased and the magnetic field-producing dynamo would weaken. By about 2.5 billion years ago, crystallization became the dominant mechanism by which the lunar dynamo continued, producing a weaker magnetic field that persisted until the outer core finally crystallized a billion years ago.
Studies like this could also help resolve the mystery of why planets like Venus and Mars lost their magnetic fields (contributing to cataclysmic climate change) and how Earth could lose its own someday. Considering its importance to habitability, a greater understanding of dynamos and magnetic fields could also help in the search for habitable exoplanets.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
