Magnetic Fields in Semarkona Meteorite Grains (IMAGE)
Caption
An optical photomicrograph of one of the chondrules in the study shows (in outline) dusty olivine rock crystals with magnetic iron-bearing minerals. The areas marked 'MM' have contaminating minerals, which were removed. The image at right shows the magnetic field around the chondrule. Red denotes a magnetic field coming out of the screen, blue going into the screen. The chondrule behaves as a tiny bar magnet recording the strength of the magnetic field in the solar nebula gas. The orientation of the magnetic field differs among the chondrules in the same meteorite, indicating magnetization took place before the chondrules came together to make the meteorite.
Credit
Fu et al./Science
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To accompany reportage on release
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