What Universe is hiding in cosmic dust? Scientists create a complete picture of the world

What Universe is hiding in cosmic dust? Scientists create a complete picture of the world

Measuring tremendous amounts of cosmic dust in interstellar space can be the key to unlocking cosmic secrets, including the process of star formation and the existence of new galactic types.

Cosmic dust grains born in stars act as building blocks for other stars and planets of rocky type (like Earth). But our understanding of the dusty universe and its processes remains limited. Scientists are still not fully understood the origin of cosmic dust and its evolution.

The presence of a dust gate also suggests that key astronomical processes remain hidden from observations in traditional telescopes. Routine observation captures visible light from stars and galaxies. But half of the world since the Big Bang remains hidden.

The bottom line is that cosmic dust is too cold to be detected by optical telescopes. But in recent decades, other major missions, like Planck and Herschel, launched in 2009 have contributed to the search for dust. They included telescopes capable of capturing galaxies in the far infrared spectral range. Both missions ended in 2013, leaving a huge amount of raw data.

Database

The DustPedia project from Cardiff University decided to combine the Herschel and Planck data with ground-based space telescopes in visible and UV light to create a large-scale archive for studying dust and its interaction in the galaxies of the Universe closest to us. Now we managed to create pictures for almost 900 galaxies. Scientists need to understand how galaxies evolve and change over time. For example, most of the chemical elements synthesized by stars are located in cosmic dust. Understanding how much of them is present will help to reveal how the galaxy has chemically developed. It will also help to compare how different galactic types evolve.

The CosmicDust project plans to create a catalog of dusty galaxies to display a “census of dust”. There is also a suspicion that in this way it will be possible to discover mysterious new galactic species with a huge amount of dust. The project has already completed the first statistical census of dust in 15,000 galaxies, finding that some contained much more or less dust than predicted.

The team also managed to spot three new exploding stellar remnants with a lot of dust. Interestingly, they all contain rapidly rotating neutron stars, hinting that they are able to act as important dust collection systems. It is also important that the Herschel data is used, returning us 12 billion years ago. It turns out that the early universe could be a more dusty place than today. Its shortage can be explained by the rapid galactic winds or the destructive shock waves of hot gas.

Researchers are also trying to understand the origin of cosmic dust. Is it formed by solar stars in modest death agony, or is the process more violent and includes massive stars?

Dust lab

In addition, there is an initiative NANOCOSMOS - modeling of cosmic dust in the laboratory in order to better understand the process of its formation and behavior. To do this, we created several experimental installations, such as a star dust chamber that simulates the formation of dust grains. Scientists use this vacuum chamber to study the reaction of individual elements in dust, initially exploring carbon accumulations and their contact with hydrogen.

Obtaining the structure of the first nanoparticles created from different elements is considered an obligatory step in order to correctly model the physics and chemistry of the emission of red giants and supernovae. Models showing the creation and growth of dust can improve innovation in terrestrial nanotechnology. And in cosmic limits, this will allow us to form a more complete picture of the Universe around us.

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