2023-10-03 09:00:00
Apparently, in addition to protecting us from external aggression, the Earth’s magnetic field also has an effect on other celestial bodies. Joana Campos Meteored Portugal 03/10/2023 11:00 6 min
A study recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy analyse how processes in the Earth’s magnetic field may contribute to the formation of water on the surface of the Moon.
This study was carried out by theUniversity of Hawaii and fits into the framework growing interest in the search for water ice on the lunar surface, whose existence has already been confirmed in the permanently shadowed regions (PSR) of the north and south poles of the Moon, due to the low axial tilt of the Moon, which is only 1.5 degrees relative to 23.5 degrees for Earth.
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Additionally, a better understanding of the water content of the lunar surface might also help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of the Moon, currently believed to have formed from a Mars-sized object that collided with Earth regarding 4.5 billion years ago, that is, regarding 100 million years following the formation of the Earth.
Earth’s magnetic field might explain the existence of water on the Moon
The Earth’s magnetic field, produced by the planet’s rotating liquid outer core, is at the origin of the existence and development of life on our little blue world. It protects us from harmful solar radiation and space weather that might destroy our atmosphere and cause catastrophic surface damage, thus making it inhospitable for life.
Unlike our atmosphere, which has a spherical shape, the magnetic field is distorted and shaped by the solar wind, which includes a long tail on the night side of the planet, made up of two parts, the plasma sheet and the magnetic tail, which is even further away.
Although the solar wind has long been held responsible for the production of water ice on the Moon, it is the plasma sheet and the magnetic tail which are at the center of this latest study. The team analyzed data collected as the Moon passes through Earth’s magnetic tail during its month-long orbit.
“This constitutes a natural laboratory to study the processes of water formation on the surface of the Moon”, said Dr. Shuai Li, an assistant research scientist at the University of Hawaii’s School of Earth and Ocean Science and Technology, and lead author of the study. “When the Moon is outside the magnetic tail, the lunar surface is bombarded by the solar wind. Inside the magnetic tail, there are virtually no protons from the solar wind and water formation should be almost zero.”
The existence of water on the Moon
For this study, Dr Li and his team analyzed satellite data obtained between 2008 and 2009 by the probe Moon Mineralogy Mapper (also called M3) from NASA, on board the Indian Space Research Organization’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. They thus discovered large quantities of water on the lunar surface, on the side of the Moon which crosses the Earth’s magnetic tail.
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The abundance of water on the lunar surface, although the Moon is not bombarded by the solar wind as it passes through the magnetic tail, is due to high energy electrons emanating from the plasma sheet of the magnetic field.
Water on the surface of the Moon is not evenly distributed. It coincides with the side facing our planet.
The team noticed that the amount of water increases at the moon’s mid-latitudes as it enters and exits the magnetic tail, but does not change when the moon passes the center of the magnetic tail. It is important to note that The Moon always has one side facing the Earth, because it is connected to our planet by the tide.
In the future, Li hopes to collaborate with NASA’s Artemis program as part of a lunar mission intended to study the link between the plasma environment of the Earth and the quantity of water on the surface of the lunar poles.
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