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It's Raining . . . From Outer Space
08/14/09 12:05 PM
You won't need an umbrella for this "rain" storm
The US Geological Service estimates that, on average, about 1,000 tons of material enters the Earth's atmosphere from outer space and lands on our planet's surface each year.
A lot of this celestial "rain" is called "space dust," and that's pretty much what it is — small particles of dust and debris left over from the birth of our solar system (which billions of years ago coalesced from a huge cloud of this stuff), although some of it may come from comets that leave a "tail" of material in their wakes. These dust particles are very small, although they can aggregate into somewhat larger chunks.
Appearances to the contrary, the seemingly empty regions between planets, stars and galaxies is permeated with space dust and gas, which are the building blocks of many celestial bodies. And, at present, our planet is passing through something of a cosmic dust storm. We are encountering almost 3 times more space dust than just a few years ago.
There are even a few (emphasis on "a few") scientists who speculate that space dust could contain microbes that might alter the biology of our planet, perhaps even creating plagues or flu epidemics. There's no proof of this at all, and most scientists are quite skeptical about this notion.
A lot of this celestial "rain" is called "space dust," and that's pretty much what it is — small particles of dust and debris left over from the birth of our solar system (which billions of years ago coalesced from a huge cloud of this stuff), although some of it may come from comets that leave a "tail" of material in their wakes. These dust particles are very small, although they can aggregate into somewhat larger chunks.
Appearances to the contrary, the seemingly empty regions between planets, stars and galaxies is permeated with space dust and gas, which are the building blocks of many celestial bodies. And, at present, our planet is passing through something of a cosmic dust storm. We are encountering almost 3 times more space dust than just a few years ago.
There are even a few (emphasis on "a few") scientists who speculate that space dust could contain microbes that might alter the biology of our planet, perhaps even creating plagues or flu epidemics. There's no proof of this at all, and most scientists are quite skeptical about this notion.