Why is the NTOSKRNL.exe IMAGE_MACHINETYPE header field set to x86 on only certain editions of Windows 7 x64?

Question

I am using windows 7 home premium x64. I was wondering why exactly the IMAGE_MACHINETYPE field in the header of ntoskrnl in my system32 directory specifies x86. IDA will eve

Answer 1

My guess is on x64 architecture with a BIOS boot ntoskrnl.exe's main() entry point is called before the switch to long mode (64bit). Thus it would be an x86 application in so far as its entry point, but the remainder of the kernel image in the exe would be 64bit.