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Earth’s lopsided core? Strangeness in our planet’s interior | | Illustrations show Earth's inner core as round, like a ball. But Earth's core doesn't tend toward roundness. A new study suggests that Earth's inner core grows asymmetrically, that is, faster on one side than the other. That's apparently been the case since our planet's core began to freeze out from molten iron more than half a billion years ago. The region of the inner core with the fastest growth is located beneath the Banda Sea in Indonesia. Read more. | | |
What is a magnetar? | | Can you imagine a magnet so powerful that it could wipe every credit card on Earth, from a distance halfway to the moon? That's the strength of the magnetic field of a magnetar, a type of neutron star. The field is about 1,000 times stronger than a normal neutron star. It's a trillion times stronger than the Earth’s. If you were to venture closer to a magnetar than about 600 miles (1,000 km), the star's magnetic field would tear away electrons from your atoms and convert you into a cloud of ions. Read more. | | |
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