In A Cosmic Dust Rain

Daily, hundreds of tons of cosmic dust fall to the planet, tiny particles of varied composition that come from space as extraterrestrials; what is known?

Dust also exists in outer space; it can come from many sources; some include cometary dust, stardust, and asteroid dust. This material can travel long distances in space and fall to the planet why they are also called micrometeorites.

Cosmic dust is everywhere; this is because it starts in space, and then the planet's gravity attracts it. Reports indicate that 0.02 tons of cosmic dust per day for every 1000 square miles fall through the atmosphere; that's more than 100 tons per day.

Cosmic dust and some other distinct space particles enter the planet, can easily penetrate through the magnetic field and atmosphere. Manage to give a negative charge to the planet's surface. Positive ions penetrate the atmosphere through the regions with the northern and southern poles in altitudes near 100 km.

The sun is a star, also can emit particles that enter the planet; it is plasma (electrons, protons, and Helium) called "Solar Wind." It also emits small amounts of heavy ions and atomic nuclei of Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxigen, Neon, Magnesium, Silicon, Sulfur, and Fluor. We can see this effect, at least in part with the formation of the aurora borealis, as charged particles enter the atmosphere.

The planet's surface usually has a negative charge; the reason remains unknown. It is probably because the inner core of the Earth has positive particles, makes the temperature and pressure so high that the atoms there are ionized.

Image 1: Space dust from various sources falls on the earth.

Its composition is mainly minerals such as Sodium, Magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, Fosforous, Sulfur, Chlorine, Potassium, Calcium, Titanium, Ferrum, Nikel, Zinc, Bromine, among others. Depending on the origin of cosmic dust can bring mixtures with other compounds or be unique to an element.

Interstellar clouds and other spatial objects can have low temperatures, almost 10-100K. Some organic materials in space are supposed to condense at that temperature and then enter the dust particles like Water, Methanol, Ammonia, Methane, Carbon oxide, Carbon dioxide, etc. However, its exact composition varies according to its origin.

Cosmic dust could be involved in the weather - for example, when the cloud's charge is neutralized by rising positive air ions, it rains.

Cosmic dust in the ocean influences the charge of clouds. The water surface involves the modulation of the electric field of the cloud. Its absence generates upward air currents that create horizontal pressure and result in storms appearing. 

In some conditions, when the density is not high enough in the clouds (autumn or winter), this dust can cause initial precipitation and later the formation of a clear climate.

There are also reports that it can feed marine organisms; in the end, they are chemical compounds usually used by living organisms. The powder contains many nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron, which act as fertilizers and stimulate the production of massive plankton blooms.

The most surprising fact about this space material is that it is closely related to life on earth. It falls into the sea and the water; therefore, marine life and plants are very prone to interact and eat cosmic dust, which links it to our food chain.

Image 2: Microscopic dust particles come from space with different compositions observed under a microscope.

The situation where cosmic dust falls to planes also occurs with others is not exclusive to earth; some scientists call it "The space environment," referring to the exchange of chemical materials between the planets.

It leads us to wonder about the possibility of life on other planets, which is very likely, either as microorganisms or similar humans. Due to these conditions, what happens is to provide an organic environment for its development.

On the other hand, other scientists have argued that, even in space, the dust can cause "space pollution" of stellar atmospheres by interstellar dust material in the planets' atmosphere.

Spatial alterations have a vast influence on the planets; for example, recent NASA reports indicate that for the last 33,000 years, the earth has been going through a giant interstellar cloud caused by the explosion of a star at that time; something that is it considers "anomalous." If there is a consequence of this, we do not know yet.

You wonder, with all this dust falling from space, wouldn't the earth get heavier? Yes, it does, but cosmic dust doesn't generate any change we can see; due to the sun is around 99.8% of the entire mass in the solar system. It makes our sun strongly bind to the rest of the solar system.

References

• Ragot, B.. (2008). Pollution of Stellar Atmospheres by Interstellar Dust Material: A Possible Solution to the G Dwarf Problem. The Astrophysical Journal. 558. 730. 10.1086/322296. 

• Nat Geo. Simon Worrall. How 40,000 Tons of Cosmic Dust Falling to Earth Affects You and Me. January 28, 2015. Link https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/150128-big-bang-universe-supernova-astrophysics-health-space-ngbooktalk

• Nat Geo. A. R. Williams. The Man Finding Stardust on Earth. August 2017. Link https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/explore-space-stardust-earth

• A.T. Kearsley, G.A. Graham, J.A.M. McDonnell, E.A. Taylor, G. Drolshagen, R.J. Chater, D. McPhail, M.J. Burchell, The chemical composition of micrometeoroids impacting upon the solar arrays of the Hubble Space Telescope, Advances in Space Research, Volume 39, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 590-604, ISSN 0273-1177, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2006.05.011.

• Plane, J.M.C., Flynn, G.J., Määttänen, A. et al. Impacts of Cosmic Dust on Planetary Atmospheres and Surfaces. Space Sci Rev 214, 23 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-017-0458-1

• NASA. Leah Ramsay. The Cosmic Dust in Your Bones. Nov 17, 2020. Link https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/the-cosmic-dust-in-your-bones-nasa-s-webb-telescope-will-investigate-the-intertwined-origins.

• Quanta Magazine. Harry Genge. What Dust From Space Tells Us About Ourselves. February 9, 2021. Link https://www.quantamagazine.org/matt-genge-uses-dust-from-space-to-tell-the-story-of-the-solar-system-20210204/.

• Kostrov, A.V. Cosmic Dusty Plasma and the Global Electric Circuit of the Earth. Plasma Phys. Rep. 46, 443–451 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063780X20040066.