{"id":1196388,"date":"2023-10-25T17:13:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T21:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1196388"},"modified":"2023-10-25T17:13:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T21:13:59","slug":"mars-core-looks-bigger-than-it-is-because-its-wrapped-in-radioactive-magma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1196388","title":{"rendered":"Mars' core looks bigger than it is because it's wrapped in radioactive magma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Data from a meteorite impact on Mars that was recorded by NASA\u2019s InSight lander in 2021 is now helping to clear up some confusion about the red planet\u2019s interior makeup. A pair of studies published today in the journal Nature<\/em> separately determined that Mars\u2019 iron-rich core is smaller and denser than previous measurements suggested, and it\u2019s surrounded by molten rock.<\/p>\n

The now defunct InSight lander<\/a>, which arrived on Mars in November 2018, spent four years recording seismic waves produced by marsquakes so scientists could get a better understanding of what\u2019s going on beneath the planet\u2019s surface. But, estimates of the Martian core based on InSight\u2019s initial readings from nearby quakes didn\u2019t quite add up. At the time, scientists found the core\u2019s radius to be somewhere between 1118 and 1149 miles \u2014 much larger than expected \u2014 and that it contained a perplexingly high amount of lighter elements complementing its heavy liquid iron.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The numbers for those light elements were \u201cbordering on the impossible,\u201d said Dongyang Huang<\/a> of ETH Zurich, a co-author of one of the studies<\/a>. \u201cWe have been wondering about this result ever since.\u201d Then, a breakthrough came when a meteorite struck Mars in September 2021 all the way across the planet from where InSight is positioned, generating seismic waves that ETH Zurich doctoral student Cecilia Duran said \u201callowed us to illuminate the core.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An
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IPGP\/ CNES\/ N. Starter<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Based on those measurements, the two teams have found that Mars\u2019 core more likely has a radius of about 1013-1060 miles. This, the ETH Zurich team notes, is about half the radius of Mars itself. A smaller core would also be more dense, meaning the previously inexplicable abundance of light elements may actually exist in smaller, more reasonable amounts. This is all surrounded by a layer of molten silicates about 90 miles thick, the teams found, which skewed the initial estimates. And, it\u2019s unlike anything found in Earth\u2019s interior.<\/p>\n

According to Vedran Lekic<\/a> from University of Maryland, a co-author of the second paper<\/a>, the layer serves as somewhat of a \u201cheating blanket\u201d for the core that \u201cconcentrates radioactive elements.\u201d Studying it could help scientists uncover answers about Mars\u2019 formation and its lack of an active magnetic field.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/mars-core-looks-bigger-than-it-is-because-its-wrapped-in-radioactive-magma-211359695.html?src=rss
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\nSource: Engadget – Mars’ core looks bigger than it is because it’s wrapped in radioactive magma<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data from a meteorite impact on Mars that was recorded by NASA\u2019s InSight lander in 2021 is now helping to clear up some confusion about the red planet\u2019s interior makeup. A pair of studies published today in the journal Nature … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,110],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-1196388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engadget","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-engadget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1196388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1196388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1196388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1196388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}