Mars has a heavy heart after all.
The Red Planet has a dense core of liquid iron surrounded by a relatively thin layer of molten rock, researchers report. The finding resolves a recent conundrum that came about when seismic measurements on Mars seemed to suggest that the planet had a surprisingly large, light core rich in low-density elements (SN: 4/24/23).
The new view, described in two studies in the Oct. 26 Nature, shows the planet is made of materials common in the solar system at the time Mars formed. A lighter core would have required a mix of elements that wouldn’t have matched the proportions in the dust
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