Apparently, micrometeorites also called cosmic dust remnants from the formation of the Solar System exist. What is more surprising is that some of these cosmic dust are being discovered today on rooftops in Paris and from other places all over the world.
The universe works in a mysterious way but it has never failed in leaving out clues to scientists and experts to discover. Recently, the Geological Society of America announced that they have discovered some extraterrestrial micrometeorites from space believed to have originated from space also called cosmic dust.
The reported cosmic dust is believed to be 4.6 billion years old. It is currently being discovered in major cities around the world namely: Paris, Oslo and Berlin. This came as a surprise for scientists since they usually only find this type of remnant in the Antarctic.
Reports say that today, there were about 300 kilograms of cosmic dust of micrometeorites collected from rooftops of the said cities including Paris. The cosmic dust contains magnetic minerals that react to magnetism causing it to be quantified to 500 cosmic grains.
"We've known since the 1940s that cosmic dust falls continuously through our atmosphere, but until now we've thought that it could not be detected among the millions of terrestrial dust particles, except in the most dust-free environments such as the Antarctic or deep oceans," Dr. Matthew Genge of the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at the Imperial College London said in a statement. "'The obvious advantage to this new approach is that it is much easier to source cosmic dust particles if they are in our backyards," Genge added.
Previous studies have detected these cosmic dust and grains from the Antarctica and some deep oceans but not in cities. This is because most scientists find it difficult to gather cosmic dust remnants from the Solar Solar in the city, according to Telegraph.
The only hindrance to studying them is the process of collecting the grains. "The reported particles are likely to have fallen on Earth in the past 6 yr and thus represent the youngest large micrometeorites collected to date," the author of the paper said in a press release by The Geological Society of America.
To some it is surprising to find out those remnants from the formation of the Solar System is still raining down on Earth today. Collecting cosmic dust is the idea of amateur scientist Jon Larsen that is still being practiced until today.