Whatever caused small space rocks to lump together billions of years ago , magnetism is unlikely to be the reason . Scientists announced today that measurements made by the European space probe Philae , which landed on comet 67P in November , show the comet 's core is n't magnetised . Some astrophysicists have suggested that magnetism might have been responsible for aligning and then binding together rocks into larger boulders during the early stages of planet formation . A composite of 18 images showing off the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko activity from different angles as seen between 31 January ( top left ) and 25 March ( bottom right ) , when the spacecraft was at distances of about 30 to 100 km from the comet . But in a paper published online by the journal Science , the team led by Hans-Ulrich Auster at the Technical University of Braunschweig , Germany , said their data — which benefited from three unexpected bounces that allowed Philae to collect more results than planned — do n't support this theory . 'If the surface was magnetised , we would have expected to see a clear increase in the magnetic field readings as we got closer and closer to the surface , ' said Auster . 'If comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is representative of all cometary nuclei , then we suggest that magnetic forces are unlikely to have played a role in the accumulation of planetary building blocks greater than one meter ( 3 feet ) in size . ' Allan H. Treiman , a senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston , Texas , who was n't involved in the study , said the results credibly suggest other forces were responsible . Magnetic data before ( top ) and after ( bottom ) the cliff collision at between the first and second touchdowns . Height above the surface is plotted on the x-axis and magnetic field strength on the y-axis . The measurements ( crosses ) are compared with a hypothetical model ( solid line ) assuming a slightly magnetised surface . data collected by the Rosetta Plasma Consortium fluxgate magnetometer on board the orbiter ( top ) and the Rosetta Lander Magnetometer and Plasma Monitor on board the lander ( bottom ) have been used to investigate the magnetic properties of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko . Studying the properties of a comet can provide clues to the role that magnetic fields played in the formation of Solar System bodies almost 4.6 billion years ago . The infant Solar System was once nothing more than a swirling disc of gas and dust but , within a few million years , the Sun burst into life in the centre of this turbulent disc , with the leftover material going into forming the asteroids , comets , moons and planets . The dust contained an appreciable fraction of iron , some of it in the form of magnetite . Indeed , millimetre-sized grains of magnetic materials have been found in meteorites , indicating their presence in the early Solar System . This leads scientists to believe that magnetic fields threading through the proto-planetary disc could have played an important role in moving material around as it started to clump together to form larger bodies . 'Auster did not find any magnetic field , with a very sensitive instrument , so it seems unlikely that magnetism in the solar nebula was significant for the collection of meter-sized objects , ' Treiman said in an email . 'At that scale , it seems likely that electrostatic or gravitational attraction would be stronger . ' The findings are part of a series of scientific results obtained by scientists analyzing data collected by the Philae lander and its mothership Rosetta , which is flying alongside the comet on its elliptical orbit around the sun . Magnetic data providing an estimate of the final landing region . Initially , Philae was seen to rotate slowly during the descent to Agilkia . It landed and then bounced , rotating significantly faster as the momentum of the internal flywheel was transferred to the lander . Some astrophysicists have suggested that magnetism might have been responsible for aligning and then binding together rocks into larger boulders during the early stages of planet formation . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article .
Was thought magnetism was responsible for aligning and binding rocks . This could have led to early stages of planet formation , scientists said . Philae results do not support theory as 67P 's core is not magnetised .