Astronomers analyzed all kinds of data collected by lunar missions. They come to the conclusion that our moon has a core of hard iron in the center, just like the Earth. It is surrounded by a liquid outer core.
Solid core of the Moon
French scientists from the University of the Cote d’Azur and the Sorbonne recently announced that they found new evidence that the Moon, like the Earth, had a solid core. In their study, recently published in the journal Nature, they analyzed a large amount of data collected by various missions and created the most accurate model of the internal structure of the Earth to date.
Back in 2011, NASA conducted similar studies based on seismographic data collected by the Apollo missions. Then the simulation showed that the Moon had a solid core with a diameter of 240 km. In the new study, the scientists took more data, but still got very similar characteristics.
They used this data to create a possible profile of the interior of the Moon, including characteristics such as deformations created through gravitational interaction with the Earth, the distance of the Moon from the Earth, as well as the density of the Moon. Then they enter all their data into the simulation program and run several simulation scenarios to see what most matches the real data.
What are the interiors of the Moon like
The question of what the depths of the Moon are has been troubling scientists since it has been precisely established that it has practically no magnetic field and that tectonic activity ceased billions of years ago.
In view of this, it could turn out that the process of stratification of its depths at one time did not go as far as on Earth. So, the heavy elements did not have time to be in the center and form the core. The new model refutes this, since it assumes an active stratification that has lasted for billions of years.
According to these ideas, there is a solid iron core in the center of the Moon, similar to what the Earth has. It has a diameter of 258 km, which is significantly less than 1300 km from our planet. The density is 7822 kg/m3, which is about the same as that of our planet.
Outside is the outer core, which is in a liquid state. Its diameter is 362 km, that is, it is very small. It seems that the Lunar Center is still not completely dead, but it is not able to create a magnetic field or any significant seismic activity.
According to phys.org
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