The inner core of the moon is a solid ball with a density similar to the density of iron, and this is what recent research has concluded. According to the researchers’ hope, this discovery could contribute to a more accurate understanding of the history of the Moon – and in a broader sense, the history of the solar system.
“Our results raise questions about the evolution of the lunar magnetic field, thanks to the fact that they prove the existence of the inner core and support the global mantle inversion scenario, which provides fundamental insights into the timeline of the bombardment of the Moon during the first billion years of the solar system,” wrote Arthur Periodot of the French National Center for Research. He is a classmate. In the current situation.
Analyzing the internal structure of objects in the solar system is possible more effectively with the help of seismic data. Sound waves from earthquakes travel through and bounce off material inside a planet or moon, a phenomenon that helps scientists map the interior of celestial bodies in detail.
Although scientists have lunar seismic data collected by the Apollo missions, the resolution is too low to accurately determine the state of the inner core. It is known to have a liquid outer core, but the state of the inner core remains a mystery. The fully solid and liquid inner core models work well with the Apollo data.
Briaud and his colleagues collected data from space missions and lunar laser ranging experiments to compile profiles of various features of the Moon. These include the degree of distortion caused by gravitational interaction with the Earth, the change in its distance from the Earth, and its density. They then designed models using different basis types to see which fit the observational data best.
Experts made several interesting observations. One is that models that closely resemble known data from the Moon describe active overturning deep in the lunar mantle. This means that the denser material inside the moon falls toward the center and the less dense material rises to the top. This activity has long been proposed to explain the presence of certain elements in the Moon’s volcanic regions.
It was also discovered that the Moon’s core is very similar to the Earth’s core, that is, the celestial body contains an outer liquid layer and a solid inner core.
According to the latest models, the radius of the outer core is about 362 km, and the radius of the inner core is about 258 km. This represents about 15 percent of the Moon’s total radius. It was also found that the density of the inner core is about 7822 kilograms per cubic meter. This value is very close to the density of iron.
In 2011, a team led by NASA planetary scientist Rene Weber reached similar results when they used then-modern seismic techniques on Apollo data to study the moon’s core.
We know that shortly after its formation, the Moon had a strong magnetic field that began to weaken about 3.2 billion years ago. Such a magnetic field is created by motion and convection in the core, so what the Moon’s core is made of is closely related to how and why the magnetic field disappears.
