CODITA: measuring the cosmic dust swept up by the Earth
Friday, March 30, 2012 - 07:31
in Astronomy & Space
Although we think of space as being empty, there is more out there than meets the eye – dust, for example, is everywhere. If all the material between the Sun and Jupiter were compressed together it would form a moon 25 km across. Now a new research programme will try to see how much of this dust enters the Earth’s atmosphere. Metals from the cosmic dust play a part in various phenomena that affect our climate. An accurate estimate of dust would also help us understand how particles are transported through different layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. Professor John Plane of the University of Leeds will present the Cosmic Dust in the Terrestrial Atmosphere (CODITA) project on Friday 30 March at the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester.