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Picking Dust In Antarctica
- Matthew Genge collected cosmic dust in Antarctica by scooping a dust layer under the snow into a plastic bag during an expedition.
- He studied that material for years and found droplets tied to a 700,000-year-old impact event.
Use Isotopes To Spot Space Grains
- Identify cosmic dust by signatures of space exposure such as short-lived radioactive isotopes caused by cosmic radiation.
- Use those isotopic markers to distinguish extraterrestrial grains from abundant terrestrial dust.
Dust From A Cathedral Roof
- Penny Wozniakiewicz collected micrometeorites from Canterbury Cathedral using a dustpan and later a vacuum cleaner.
- Cathedral roofs are useful because their long records help separate terrestrial contamination from true cosmic dust.