ASU: Meteorite's magnetic fields reveal how planets formed

[bystander]

Meteorite's magnetic fields reveal how planets formed
Arizona State University | 2014 Nov 13

[i]Magnetic field lines weave through the cloud of dusty gas surrounding the newborn sun. In the foreground are asteroids and chondrules, the building blocks of chondritic meteorites. While solar magnetic fields dominate the region near the sun, out where the asteroids orbit, chondrules preserve a record of varying local magnetic fields. [b]Credit: Hernán Cañellas/MIT Paleomagnetism Laboratory[/b][/i]

---

The most accurate laboratory measurements yet made of magnetic fields trapped in grains within a primitive meteorite are providing important clues to how the early solar system evolved. The measurements point to shock waves traveling through the cloud of dusty gas around the newborn sun as a major factor in solar system formation.

The results appear in a paper published Nov. 13 in the journal Science. The lead author is graduate student Roger Fu of MIT, working under Benjamin Weiss; Steve Desch of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration is a co-author of the paper.

"The measurements made by Fu and Weiss are astounding and unprecedented," says Desch. "Not only have they measured tiny magnetic fields thousands of times weaker than a compass feels, they have mapped the magnetic fields' variation recorded by the meteorite, millimeter by millimeter." ...

[i]Magnified image of the section of the Semarkona meteorite used in this study. Chondrules are millimeter sized, light-colored objects. [b]Copyright: MIT Paleomagnetism Laboratory[/b][/i]

---

Pulling together the early solar system
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2014 Nov 13

Solar nebula magnetic fields recorded in the Semarkona meteorite - Roger R. Fu et al

• Science 346(6213) 1089 (28 Nov 2014) DOI: 10.1126/science.1258022