News in Brief Planetary Science

Young asteroids generated long-lasting magnetism

Meteorites chronicle conditions on cooling space rocks

Esquel meteorite

MAGNETIC METEORITE  After studying microscopic iron pockets in the Esquel meteorite (shown), scientists calculated that asteroids in the early solar system produced magnetic fields for as much as 350 million years longer than once thought.

Natural History Museum, London

By Thomas Sumner

- More than 2 years ago

Ancient meteorites reveal that young asteroids may have generated powerful magnetic fields for hundreds of millions of years longer than once thought.