Revealed: Exciting New Discoveries of What Lies Inside the Moon!

The Moon isn’t made of green cheese, but there’s something fascinating about its core. A recent study from May 2023 confirms that the Moon’s inner core is solid and has a density similar to iron. This finding could settle a long-running debate among scientists about whether the Moon’s core is solid or molten.

Arthur Briaud, an astronomer from France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, led the research. He and his team suggest that understanding the Moon’s core will give us insights into its history and the history of the Solar System. They believe it has important implications for how the Moon’s magnetic field evolved and how it relates to events in the early Solar System.

To study the Moon’s interior, researchers used seismic data. This method measures how seismic waves travel through the Moon, helping create a detailed map of what lies beneath its surface. The Apollo missions provided some data, but it wasn’t precise enough to confirm the state of the inner core. Scientists previously debated whether the Moon’s core was fully solid, fully fluid, or a mix.

Briaud’s team used data from lunar laser-ranging experiments. They examined how the Moon interacts with Earth’s gravity and measured its distance from us. This data helped them create models of the Moon’s inner structure. They found that the Moon’s core consists of a solid inner core and a fluid outer core, similar to Earth’s structure. The inner core appears to be about 258 kilometers (160 miles) in radius, while the outer core spans about 362 kilometers (225 miles).

Interestingly, the density of the inner core is approximately 7,822 kilograms per cubic meter, which aligns closely with the density of iron. This finding coincides with previous research from 2011, where scientists also discovered a solid inner core in the Moon.

Why does this matter? Understanding the Moon’s core helps explain its magnetic field’s history. The Moon had a strong magnetic field in its early years, which started to fade about 3.2 billion years ago. This field is influenced by the movement of materials within the core, hence knowing its makeup provides crucial clues.

As interest in lunar exploration grows, especially with upcoming missions, we might soon gather more data that could confirm these findings directly. The ongoing research could change our understanding of not only the Moon but also other celestial bodies in our Solar System.

For more details, you can read the complete article from Nature here.

Exploring the Moon isn’t just about its surface; it’s about uncovering the mysteries that lie deep within. Who knows what other surprises we may uncover?

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