09 February 2016
Are Earth-like worlds built like Earth?
...from Earth, the other planets should all have a nickel/iron core containing about 30 percent of the planet's mass. This... and Venus are well-described by the same fixed ratio of iron to magnesium silicate and that rocky planets very close to their ...
20 October 2017
NASA Psyche mission to use laser communication
...been specifically targeted because it appears to be the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet, one of the building blocks ... an aspect of planet formation that is relatively unexplored: iron cores. To help relay data about Psyche, the spacecraft...
02 October 2018
New technique could provide fresh insights into how the Moon was formed
...rock that is formed from the rapid cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich lava; basalt. More than 90 percent of all volcanic rock...before. Olivine in magma is mainly made up of magnesium and iron and as the magma cools, the ratio of these two elements...
09 November 2018
Leftover gas from the Sun's birth created Earth's water
...and is lighter than asteroidal hydrogen, dissolved into the molten iron of the magma ocean. This hydrogen, through a process... then pulled inwards towards the young core by its attraction to iron; which being quite a heavy element sunk into the centre ...
27 March 2019
Storm-plagued exoplanet revealed in detail with GRAVITY
...storm-wracked exoplanet with swirling clouds of iron and silicates has been spotted by an ...dark clouds,” says Lacour. “Convection moves around the clouds of silicate and iron particles, which disaggregate and rain down into the interior. This paints a...
19 August 2020
Growing 'dent' in Earth's magnetic field poses problems for satellites
... produced by swirling convective currents of molten iron 300 kilometres beneath our feet, is weakening...life on our planet. The electrical currents generated by slowly moving liquid iron in the outer core provides a protective shield for the planet. If...
