2023-05-14 10:00:00
The Moon does have a (very small) solid core “like the Earth”, an interesting and important discovery that we owe to a French team.
The Lune is so close to Earth that we could have known everything about it for all these years. And yet. A French team has just confirmed the presence of a small solid core at the heart of our natural satellite. What exactly is it made of? Here is what we know today.
The Moon does have a (very small) solid core “like the Earth”
In the early 2000s, a fluid outer core was identified. Today, it is the internal structure that is the object of all attention. With the participation in particular of the CNRS, the University Côte d’Azur, Sorbonne University and the Paris-PSL Observatory, the study makes it possible to confirm that the Moon does indeed have a solid internal core “like the Earth”, indicates the CNRS. With about 500 km in diameter, or 15% of its total size, it is therefore very small, which explains why it has gone unnoticed during all this time.
An interesting and important discovery that we owe to a French team
To have confirmation of its existence, the experts used a process of telemetry, from Earth, and the numerous data collected over the lunar missions. As for the composition of this solid core, it is “a metal whose density is close to that of iron”, explains the CNRS. And this discovery also confirms a hypothesis, namely the lunar “turning of the mantle”. This is located between the core and the crust. During the evolution of the satellite, there have therefore been displacements of elements. This new discovery makes it possible to better understand why we find elements rich in iron and on the lunar surface: “Material was able to rise to the surface and produce volcanic rocks deposited in the lunar crust. Then, the elements that were too dense compared to the surrounding material in the crust, fell back and returned to the interface between the mantle and the core”, specifies the CNRS.
Confirmation and study of the inner core also give new clues about the disappearance of the lunar magnetic field. It was once 100 times more powerful than it is today, “virtually non-existent”. The presence of a solid core could make it possible to refine the hypotheses around this evolution. To be continued !
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