Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2023

12 ASTRO PUBLISHING first inspection convinced Brenker to organize a real scientific expedition in and around the crater in April 2022. Together with Brenker, a fellow geophysicist, Andreas Junge, and a group of students were present. The goal of the expedition was obviously to find definitive evidence for or against the impact origin hypothesis. In addition to the classic topographic assessments, Brenker’s team carried out a series of geophysical and min- eralogical studies. Within the former, radar, geoelectric and geomagnetic measurements were performed. Regarding the controversial issue of magnetic anomalies, in their presen- tation at the conference at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Brenker and Junge stated that: “The most striking geophysical structure comes from the spatial distribution of the geomag- netic field strength, implying a sys- tematic decrease towards the bottom of the crater. We measured several profiles from the area surrounding the crater through the crater rim to- wards its center. All data were cor- rected for time variations in Earth’s magnetic field. Within the crater, we