‘Super-Earths’ May Mimic Mars: Lacking a Magnetic Field, Existing as Dead Zones
December 28th, 2011
Rocky planets a few times heavier than Earth that were thought might be life-friendly may lack a protective magnetic field that originates from an iron core that is at least partly molten.
A simulation of super-Earths between a few times and 10 times Earth's mass suggests that high pressures will keep the core solid, according to Guillaume Morard of the Institute of Mineralogy and Physics of Condensed Matter in Paris, France. Without a magnetic field, the planets would be bathed in harmful radiation, and their atmospheres would be eroded away by particles streaming from their stars.
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