A tally of pristine micrometeorites locked in polar ice gives the best-yet look at the origin and amount of extraterrestrial material reaching our planet
Earth sweeps up 5,200 tons of extraterrestrial dust each year sciencenews.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sciencenews.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Posted by Eleanor Imster in Earth | Space |
April 24, 2021
Dust shed from comets and asteroids constantly rains down on our planet. How much of this extraterrestrial material lands on Earth’s surface?
View at EarthSky Community Photos | Chirag Bachani in Marathan, Texas, captured this photo of the Geminid meteor showe on December 14, 2020. He wrote: “The Geminid meteor shower produced a spectacular show with over 100 meteors per hour at the peak around 2 am local time on December 14th. This image displays over 40 meteors captured throughout the night from a Bortle Class 1 dark sky in Marathon, Texas. Many of the meteors lasted over 2 seconds and were typically green and blue.” Thank you, Chirag!
https://www.afinalwarning.com/510297.html (Natural News) In a study published on April 15 in the journal
Tiny meteors in the form of interplanetary dust bombard Earth all the time. Some of these particles travel at exceptional speeds and turn into shooting stars in the process. Some survive the fiery trek through Earth’s atmosphere and reach the ground to become micrometeorites, which are dust-sized extraterrestrial rocks that land on the planet’s surface.
Now, by scouring Antarctica for micrometeorites, the researchers were able to quantify how much interplanetary dust hit Earth on average.
Looking for interplanetary dust in Antarctica
The solar system teems with interplanetary dust particles shed from asteroids and comets. Some of these particles get pulled into Earth’s orbit and nosedive to the planet at extreme speeds. This fallout of dust happens every day but is seldom observed because the particles measure only a few tenths to hundredths of a
Every year, over 5,000 tonnes of extraterrestrial dust fall to Earth each year, scientists have determined. Our home planet encounters dust from comets and asteroids. These interplanetary dust particles pass through our atmosphere and give rise to shooting stars. Some of them reach the ground in the form of micrometeorites.