{"id":655444,"date":"2026-08-25T10:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/655444\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T10:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:15:19","slug":"meteorite-dust-holds-records-of-magnetism-that-may-have-helped-form-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/655444\/","title":{"rendered":"Meteorite dust holds records of magnetism that may have helped form the Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dramatic<\/a>Image: \u00a9 Berk Ucak | iStock
\n A study by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reveals that a powerful magnetic field existed during the solar system\u2019s first 200,000 years<\/p>\n

The MIT discovery suggests that magnetic forces,<\/a> working alongside gravity, played a crucial role in channelling primordial gas and dust inward to build the infant sun.<\/p>\n

Ancient magnetism in the early solar system<\/p>\n

Around 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system originated as a giant, spherical interstellar cloud of gas and dust known as the solar nebula. Over a few million years, this cloud underwent a dramatic transformation, flattening into a protoplanetary disk that condensed to form the central sun and surrounding planets. <\/a><\/p>\n

While astrophysicists have long assumed gravity was the main mechanism driving this collapse, theoretical models have suggested that magnetic fields generated by moving plasma could also provide the necessary torque to transport mass inward.<\/p>\n

Previous research led by MIT professor Benjamin Weiss identified magnetic field signatures from roughly 2 million years into the solar system\u2019s history, a period when the Sun was already established, and protoplanets were beginning to form. The new study pushes this timeline back to the very origin of the solar system, testing whether a magnetic field existed when the Sun itself was actively assembling.<\/p>\n

Analysing Antarctic Meteorite DOM 08006<\/p>\n

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study was led by former MIT graduate student Cau\u00ea Borlina (now an assistant professor at Purdue University) alongside Weiss and collaborators from Cambridge, Caltech, UCLA, and Tsinghua University.<\/p>\n

To search for the earliest magnetic records, the team analysed DOM 08006, a primitive meteorite discovered in 2008 in the Dominion Range along the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Unlike the vast majority of meteorites\u2014which underwent heavy thermal or aqueous alteration through planetary collisions and heating\u2014DOM 08006 remained remarkably pristine over its 4.5-billion-year history.<\/p>\n

The researchers focused on microscopic components inside the meteorite called calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs). These sub-millimetre mineral grains formed during the solar system\u2019s first 200,000 years, making them the oldest known solid materials in existence:<\/p>\n