Tag Archive for 'Interplanetary dust'

Beyond Neptune, there is a large disk of small objects, called the Kuiper Belt and beyond that is the Oort Cloud, home of the comets. This artwork shows a section of Kuiper Belt, crowded with the icy cores of potential comets. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Kuiper Belt May Be Much Larger than Previously Estimated

Feb 20, 2024 by News Staff

Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) are thought to be the dominant source of interplanetary dust particles in the outer Solar System due to both collisions between...

These SEM images show cosmic spherules and unmelted micrometeorites from the CONCORDIA collection, from left to right, top to bottom: glassy cosmic spherule, stony cosmic spherule, partially melted micrometeorite, unmelted fine-grained micrometeorite. Image credit: Rojas et al., doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116794.

Study: 5,200 Tons of Extraterrestrial Dust Reach Earth’s Surface Each Year

Apr 13, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a new paper published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, an international team of researchers presents the results from a long-term...

This photo shows the zodiacal light as it appeared on March 1, 2021, in Skull Valley, Utah, the United States; the Pleiades star cluster is visible near the top of the light column; Mars is just below that. Image credit: Bill Dunford / NASA.

Martian Storms May Be Responsible for Interplanetary Dust behind Zodiacal Light

Mar 10, 2021 by News Staff

The zodiacal light is sunlight reflected by interplanetary dust in the inner Solar System. Variations in the zodiacal light with ecliptic latitude reveal...

Scanning electron microscope image of the 6.2-billion-year-old grain of silicon carbide from the Murchison meteorite. Image credit: Heck et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1904573117.

Scientists Find 7-Billion-Year-Old Stardust in Murchison Meteorite

Jan 13, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United States, Switzerland and Australia has found 4.6 to 7-billion-year-old presolar grains of silicon carbide (SiC) in...

Schmitz et al argue that the mid-Ordovician ice age was caused by global cooling, triggered by extra dust in the atmosphere of Earth from the breakup of a giant asteroid in the main asteroid belt. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Dust from Disintegrated Asteroid Triggered Mid-Ordovician Ice Age

Sep 19, 2019 by News Staff

There’s always a lot of extraterrestrial dust floating down to Earth, but this dust is normally only a tiny fraction of the other dust in our atmosphere...

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity imaged these drifting clouds on May 7, 2019. These are likely water-ice clouds about 19 miles (31 km) above the surface. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

‘Meteoric Smoke’ May Play Key Role in Formation of High-Altitude Clouds on Mars

Jun 19, 2019 by News Staff

Planetary scientists have long observed water-ice clouds in the Martian middle atmosphere (18.6-37.2 miles, or 30-60 km, above the surface). Now, a University...

Cometary-type interplanetary dust particle collected by NASA aircraft. Image credit: Hope Ishii, University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Cometary-Type Interplanetary Particles Contain Presolar Dust, Researchers Find

Jun 13, 2018 by News Staff

Samples of interplanetary particles — collected from the upper atmosphere of Earth and believed to originate from comets — contain presolar...

Hypervelocity space dust is a unique entity in planetary systems like our Solar System, which is able to go past and enter the atmosphere of planets, collect samples of those planets and deposit samples of other planets. Image credit: Jonny Lindner.

Space Dust May Transport Biological Particles between Distant Planets, New Study Suggests

Nov 22, 2017 by News Staff

Streams of space dust that continually bombard Earth’s atmosphere could deliver microbial life and life essential molecules from distant planets, or...

Zodiacal light scattered from dust grains in our Solar System is seen rising diagonally up to the left in this image, as the plane of the Milky Way rises up to the right (Tunc Tezel / TWAN / APOD).

Astronomers Study Solar System’s Interplanetary Nanodust

Sep 10, 2013 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has used the Low Frequency Receiver onboard the twin Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) to learn more...