Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Feb 1975
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1975natur.253..701r&link_type=abstract
Nature, vol. 253, Feb. 27, 1975, p. 701-703.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
31
Lunar Core, Lunar Magnetic Fields, Magnetic Dipoles, Paleomagnetism, Astrophysics, Curie Temperature, Dynamo Theory, Lunar Evolution
Scientific paper
Theories giving the source of the previously hypothesized ancient strong lunar magnetic field and reasons for its disappearance are presented. It is suggested that since it was demonstrated that the moon possessed a small iron core, a dynamo process within this core may have accounted for the field. The disappearance of this magnetizing field can be explained; either the magnetic Reynolds number became subcritical or the core solidified during the last 3.2 Gyr. Another possibility is that the moon acquired a uniform permanent magnetization from a primeval field in the condensing solar nebula; in that case the present absence of a lunar dipole field would be explained by showing that the disseminated radioactivity within the moon heated the deep interior above the Curie point of iron (780 C) between 3.2 Gyr ago and the present. Evidence favors the first theory.
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