Magnetism
Magnetism is a class of physical phenomena that are mediated by magnetic fields. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, which acts on other currents and magnetic moments. The most familiar effects occur in ferromagnetic materials, which are strongly attracted by magnetic fields and can be magnetized to become permanent magnets, producing magnetic fields themselves. Only a few substances are ferromagnetic; the most common ones are iron, nickel and cobalt and their alloys. The prefix "" refers to iron, because permanent magnetism was first observed in lodestone, a form of natural iron ore called magnetite, FeO.
Magnetic mineralogy
Extraterrestrial environments being low in oxygen, minerals tend to have very little . The primary magnetic phase on the Moon is ferrite, the body-centered cubic (bcc) phase of iron. As the proportion of iron decreases, the crystal structure changes from bcc to face centered cubic (fcc). Nickel iron mixtures tend to exsolve into a mixture of iron-rich kamacite and iron-poor taenite.