The latest data from the probe Messenger , which struck last week against the surface of Mercury , revealed that the magnetic field the planet formed about 4,000 million years ago, according to a study published in the journal Science.
These new data are an important step in the investigation of the planet closest to the sun, one of the most difficult to analyze by scientists.
When the probe Messenger hovered near the surface of Mercury , just 15 kilometers away The magnetometer data collected rocks and revealed that the magnetic field is very old, between 3,700 and 3,900 million years.
In fact, the world originated close the moment that the Earth , which dates from 4,500 million years ago was formed.
“The scientific data obtained by these recent observations are really interesting and what we have learned from magnetic field is just the beginning, “said Catherine Johnson, a planetary scientist at the University of British Columbia in Canada and lead author of the study.
Mercury is the only planet in the Solar System , in addition to the Earth , with similar magnetic field; and it is caused by the motion of liquid iron in its core.
Messenger , a mission of 450 million dollars, was launched in August 2004 and in 2011 became the first probe to orbit Mercury, which is especially complex because the planet moves faster than the Earth (a spacecraft must travel about 104,607 kilometers per hour to reach it) and also face the heat of the sun.
The data provided to the probe of the NASA are the first to arrive from near Mercury from which you sent the Mariner 10, also an American, from 1974 . and 1975
Source: EFE
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