Scientists have discovered that distant "Super-Earths," which maintain a mass up to ten times that of our planet, prevent radiation from piercing their atmospheres with a magnetic field produced by "flowing liquid metal," according to Space.com.
The study, published in the journal Science, detailed that researchers exposed Magnesium oxide to pressure and heat equal to that of an alien super-Earth and found observed the "rocky substance change[d] to a solid with a new crystal structure, and finally into a liquid metal," notes the site.
In an interview with editor Charles Q. Choi, Carnegie Institution Geophysicist R. Stewart McWilliams states, "Our results show that the usual assumption that planetary magnetic fields originate exclusively in iron cores is too limiting. Magnetic fields might also form within planetary mantles. In fact, this idea has been speculated on for decades, but now we have hard data to show that, indeed, such a 'mantle-dynamo' is plausible."
He adds, "For many decades we have usually imagined terrestrial planets - the Earth, its neighbors such as Mars, and distant super-Earths - as all having Earth-like properties: that is, they have a outer shell or mantle composed of nonmetallic oxides, and an iron rich core which is metallic and from which planetary magnetic fields originate."
The notion that different types of magnetic dynamos are at work in the universe opens up the range of possible life-supporting environments, asserts McWilliams.
"It is often said that life on planets may require the presence of a strong magnetic field to protect organisms from dangerous radiation from space such as cosmic rays - at least this may be true for certain types of life, similar to humans, that live on a planet's surface. We find that magnetic fields may occur on a wider range of planets than previously thought, possibly creating unexpected environments for life in the universe."
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