NASA HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON — Scientists have long wondered how life could have evolved on Earth if the sun's radiation flares were so much more powerful billions of years ago.
According to planetary scientists, the Earth's magnetic field could not have protected living organisms around 4 billion years ago, when these organisms were supposed to have formed out of Earth's primordial soup.
Now a group of NASA scientists say they have found some evidence that might support a theory that would explain this mystery.
The researchers took another look at moon rocks that were brought to Earth by the Apollo missions.
The NASA study's results were published in the journal Science Advances.
According to the study, the researchers found evidence in the moon rocks that the moon probably did have a stronger magnetic field back then.
Researchers theorize that this moon magnetosphere could have been quite strong, and that the Earth was much closer to Earth back then -- allowing for the possibility that the magnetospheres of the moon and Earth could have interacted.
The theory states that the magnetic fields of the moon and Earth could have combined to create a more protective magnetosphere around the Earth.
In this way, the Earth's surface could have been protected enough to make evolution possible.