Meteorite dust reveals magnetism from the solar system's birth
Scientists recovered a meteorite in Antarctica in 2008 that contains traces of a magnetic field from the solar system’s first 200,000 years. The MIT team examined microscopic calcium‑aluminum‑rich inclusions, the oldest known solar‑system material, and found they retain records of ancient magnetism. The field appears stronger than today’s Earth field and could have drawn gas and dust together as the Sun formed. “This transition, from a spherical cloud to a protoplanetary disk, is one of the most significant events in all of solar system history,” said Benjamin Weiss, MIT’s Robert R. Shrock Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
The findings give astronomers physical evidence that magnetism, alongside gravity, helped shape the Sun’s birth.
Source: Meteorite dust holds records of magnetism that may have helped form the sun (news.mit.edu).
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