Meteorite is ‘hard drive’ from space

Researchers have decoded ancient recordings from fragments of an asteroid dating back billions of years to the start of the Solar System.

They found tiny “space magnets” in meteorites which retain a memory of the birth and death of the asteroid’s core.

Like the data recorded on the surface of a computer hard drive, the magnetic signals written in the space rock reveal how Earth’s own metallic core and magnetic field may one day die.

more…

CrazyNeutrino said:

Meteorite is ‘hard drive’ from space

Researchers have decoded ancient recordings from fragments of an asteroid dating back billions of years to the start of the Solar System.

They found tiny “space magnets” in meteorites which retain a memory of the birth and death of the asteroid’s core.

Like the data recorded on the surface of a computer hard drive, the magnetic signals written in the space rock reveal how Earth’s own metallic core and magnetic field may one day die.

more…

Doh, why didn’t I think of that? The technique has been used for rocks on Earth at least since 1962, it was used to confirm sea-floor spreading. It could certainly yield useful results when used on meteorites, but this is the first I’ve heard of it.