News Planetary Science

Ancient moon’s mega magnetic field explained

Reexamined Apollo samples reveal churning lunar interior generated magnetism

moon illustration

MOON MAGNET  The ancient moon generated a strong magnetic field for hundreds of millions of years, Apollo-era rocks show. In this illustration, the orange sphere represents the ancient moon’s hot core and the blue lines depict the magnetic field it generated.

Hernán Cañellas

By Thomas Sumner

- More than 2 years ago

The powerful magnetic field that surrounded the fledgling moon billions of years ago probably originated from the roiling lunar interior, not asteroid impacts.