Scientists said a magnetic field preserved within an ancient meteorite offers new clues about the formation of the solar system.

Scientists said magnetic fields inside these primitive meteorite chunks offered evidence of "shock waves" that traveled from the early Sun through the dusty gas cloud of the early solar system that was the key to its formation.

Like Us on Facebook

These experts said the solar system's formation was a messy process that took place 4.5 billion years ago. Tons of rocky material from that time act as time capsules about the early solar system.

They discovered useful pieces of debris like chondrites, which are the oldest, most primitive and least altered type of meteorites.

Chondrites are made mainly from small stony grains known as chondrules barely a millimeter in diameter. Chondrite meteorites are pieces of asteroids broken apart by collision. They've remained relatively unchanged since they formed at the beginning of the solar system.

Chondrules are formed by quick melting events within the dusty gas cloud or the solar nebula that encircled the young sun. As chondrules cooled, iron-bearing minerals within them became magnetized like bits on the hard disk through the local magnetic field in the gas.

These magnetic fields are maintained within the chondrules even down to the current day, according to Arizona State University researchers.

The chondrule grains came from a meteorite named Semarkona, named after a place in India where it fell in 1940.

Semarkona is one of the most pristine and primitive relics from the earliest stages of the solar system.

TagsSemarkona, solar system, Magnetic Fields, Chondrites, Chondrules, space exploration, ancient meteorite, Meteorite, asteroid