New analysis of Moon rocks taken by astronauts from the Apollo lunar missions revealed new insights about the Moon's core.

A team of scientists from MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences led by Ben Weiss revealed these lunar rocks brought back by astronauts apparently possess traces of magnetization.

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These traces of magnetization provide clues the Earth's satellite may have once had a magnetic field protecting it, similar to that of the Earth's.

The researchers proposed theories about this lunar event raised questions, including the causes of this field; how strong it was and when it faded out.

A distinct theory the team proposed is a lunar dynamo magnetic field generated by the Moon's liquid metallic core. This field was probably active for around one billion years.

Even if the Moon's core was relatively small in size, this magnetic field probably possessed a massive force and was also incredibly active. Scientists estimate its peak activity spanned 4.2 billion years ago to 3.56 billion years at least.

This long active period of its magnetic field was probably caused by convection currents powered by the Moon's inner core crystallization.

Weiss adds apart from the Moon's past magnetic field, more research is necessary to further study the Moon's evolution and how its magnetic field formed. Also, the Moon's magnetic field suddenly faded out between 3.56 billion years to 3.3 billion years ago, which is still an enigma to scientists.

TagsMoon's Mysterious Magnetic Field: How it Formed and Disappeared, moon, moon rocks, apollo mission, lunar dynamo, moon magnetic field dynamo lunar