Research journey to the center of the Earth

Researchers in Japan say they may be one step closer to solving a mystery at the core of the Earth. It has long been established that approximately 85 percent of the Earth's core is made of iron, while nickel makes up an ...

Just what sustains Earth's magnetic field anyway?

Earth's magnetic field shields us from deadly cosmic radiation, and without it, life as we know it could not exist here. The motion of liquid iron in the planet's outer core, a phenomenon called a "geodynamo," generates the ...

New gravity map gives best view yet inside Mars

A new map of Mars' gravity made with three NASA spacecraft is the most detailed to date, providing a revealing glimpse into the hidden interior of the Red Planet.

Apollo-era lunar seismic data yields new lunar core model

(Phys.org)—Like the solar system's telluric planets, including Earth itself, the moon's internal structure is composed of geoochemically distinct mantle, crust and core layers. The core is mostly iron; much of our understanding ...

Earth's iron core is surprisingly weak, researchers say

The massive ball of iron sitting at the center of Earth is not quite as "rock-solid" as has been thought, say two Stanford mineral physicists. By conducting experiments that simulate the immense pressures deep in the planet's ...

Low density of Earth's core due to oxygen and silicon impurities

During accretion and differentiation of the Earth, chemical interactions in a silicate magma ocean and liquid iron drove silicon and oxygen impurities into what went on to become the liquid outer core. Contrasting with previous ...

page 2 from 3