Ancient cosmic dust flows into drains from roofs

Ancient cosmic dust flows into drains from roofs

Microscopic cosmic particles, which were collected in the ditches of Paris, Oslo and Berlin, made it possible to make new discoveries in the mysteries of the solar system.

By showing persistence, John Larsen was able to find cosmic particles, dating from the time when our Sun was still a “baby”. And he found them in the urban settlement, which is formed from the drainage of building roofs. And after he managed to convince the British scientists to double-check his conclusions, the years of work paid off.

In 2011, Larsen turned to Matthew Genge of Imperial College in London with a plan for finding dust particles in the most seemingly inappropriate place. Although it is a difficult task to distinguish cosmic particles from a zoo from man-made in an urban environment, but it did not stop Larsen.

“It was an amateur scholar who was in fact a famous jazz musician in Norway, who became interested in this idea and began to collect any garbage dumped in a ditch,” said Genge. After collecting the garbage from the roofs of the buildings of Oslo, Paris and Berlin found in the drainage systems, Larsen sent photographs of interesting Genje particles. And, despite the pessimism of his partner, Larsen managed to stumble upon a gold mine.

With the help of Genge, they discovered hundreds of particles that had fallen from space and had a history from the beginning of the Solar System. Larsen documented his micrometeorite discovery in the framework of the project Stardust (Star Dust). “Imagine someone sending you pictures every week. And every time you realize that this is all a waste of time. And suddenly, after 5 years, you get a photo of what you are actually looking for. At that moment I just lost my head and understood how I should appreciate this guy! ”, Added Genge.

“He made this way! I had to sort through 300 kg (660 pounds) of rain from the gutters. It’s just incredible. ”

As described in a study published in the journal Geology, the duo identified 500 dust particles originating from comets and asteroids. But finding them in the mud is just the beginning. Research has discovered new knowledge in the science of cosmic dust that is falling on our heads right now, and can add another layer in the understanding of the building blocks of the planets.

Our solar system is filled with dust from collisions of asteroids and ventilation of comets. The most visible sign of dust on earth is meteor showers, which ignite in the upper atmosphere. Nevertheless, tiny particles descending into the atmosphere, like “shooting stars”, burn completely, leaving only a bright flash.

“These particles (in the gutter discharge) are definitely not from meteorite rain, because dust comes too fast - 30 km per second (67,000 miles per hour), and they completely evaporate in the atmosphere,” said Genge.

Drainage particles are believed to enter the atmosphere at a speed of about 12 kilometers per second (27,000 miles per hour), where atmospheric friction heats the particles, but leaves dust. Their size is about 0.3 mm. After analyzing 500 samples, the researchers found a mixture of particles originating from asteroids and comets. “We found those that originate from comets. They are characterized by carbon saturation, while asteroids resemble meteorite material, ”he added.

Separating cosmic dust from old gutter is not easy, but researchers have found another important feature: cosmic material contains minerals that give them magnetic properties. So, the use of magnetic separation under the microscope, simplified the task.

“They resemble cosmic dust from deep-sea sediments,” said Genge. “The main difference is that they are very young. The fact is that they were collected from the roofs of commercial buildings, where cleaning takes place every 3-5 years. Therefore, we know that they have visited us for at least 5 years. But the particles from the seabed are up to 50,000 years old. ”

Knowing the landing time, the researchers were able to determine how the dust of the solar system has changed in the last million years. Dust found in urban gutters contains less crystals than dust found in a million-year-old Antarctic. But it strongly resembles the cosmic dust that fell to the Earth in medieval times.

Researchers believe that changes in the structure of dust particles can be sent to the orbital changes of the planets of the solar system over millions of years. It is likely that small gravitational perturbations changed the trajectory of interplanetary dust, forcing it to strike the Earth’s atmosphere at different speeds and at different angles. Thus, such minor changes can affect what the heating temperature will be when entering the atmosphere, which affects the size of the particles and the shape of the crystals inside the microscopic grains. In general, these tiny cosmic particles contain a lot of information about the state of the orbits of the planets, and also represent the tiny fossils of the solar system arising from the material in the nebula that continues to form our sun and planets.

“In fact, the materials of comets and asteroids have a long history. They relate to the birth of the Solar System 4.5 billion years ago, ”said Genge.

When Oscar Wilde wrote the famous quote: “We are all in the gutter, but some look at the stars,” he didn’t suspect that one day the amateur Norwegian scientist would look for these stars directly in the ditch itself.

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