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The latest data from the probe Messenger , which struck against the surface of the Mercury during the last week of April, revealed that the magnetic field the planet was formed about 4000 million years ago, according to a study published May 7 in Science .
These new information represent an important step in the research from the nearest planet to the Sun , one of the most difficult to analyze by scientists.
When the Messenger spacecraft flew close to the surface Mercury, just 15 kilometers away, the magnetometer data collected rocks and revealed the magnetic field is very old, between 3700 and 3900 million years.
In fact, the world originated around the time that the Earth , which dates from 4500 million years ago formed.
“The scientific data obtained by these recent comments are really interesting and what we have learned of the magnetic field is just the beginning, “said Catherine Johnson, a planetary scientist at l University of British Columbia Canada and lead author of the study.
Mercury is the only planet in the solar system besides Earth, with similar magnetic field; and is caused by the movement of liquid iron at its core.
Messenger, a mission USD 450 million , was released in August 2004 and in 2011 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, which is especially complex since that planet moves faster than Earth ( spacecraft must travel about 104 607 kilometers per hour to reach it) and also face the heat del Sol.
The data provided to the probe of the NASA are the first to come from the vicinity of Mercury from which sent the Mariner 10 , also American, between 1974 and 1975
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