Astronomers Spot Previously Unknown Space 'Cavity' That’s Quietly Protecting the Moon
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Gizmodo
Latest Earth has a particularly strong magnetosphere—a bubble-shaped capsule of magnetism—shielding the planet and its inhabitants from solar weather and other space badness. These protective perks extend to the Moon, whose orbit enters and exits Earth’s magnetosphere. But new research suggests we’ve underestimated how good the magnetosphere is at its job. In a Science Advances paper published today, researchers say they’ve found strong evidence that an energetic particle “cavity” shaped by Earth’s magnetosphere shields the Moon from harmful cosmic rays—even when the Moon’s orbit is outside the magnetosphere. The findings come from analyzing recent data collected by China’s Chang’e-4 Moon lander and could inform future space missions, for which radiation exposure remains a threat for astronauts. “We had expected that the radiation on the lunar surface would be constant when the Moon is not inside the Earth’s magnetosphere,” Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber, the study’s corresponding author and an astrophysicist at Kiel University in Germany, told Gizmodo. “What we found, however, is that the magnetosphere provides some more shielding than expected.”
Published: March 25, 2026 6:00 pm
Source: Gizmodo — Read original