“The solar system is a dusty place,” explains Project Stardust founder Jon Larsen in the caption of one of his videos. “Every day approximately 100 tons of cosmic dust fall down on Earth, mainly as micrometeorites…”
“Most of these mineral particles (iron, nickel, etc.) are smaller than grains of sand, and they are falling down on us all the time and all over the globe. Still, little is known about these exotic extraterrestrials.”
This 2015 video, 41 micrometeorites in less than 2 minutes, shares scanning electron microscope images of some of the 0.2-0.5 mm space spherules and prolate spheroid-like particles that Larsen found in Norway.
Larsen was the first to search for, find, and present the discovery of micrometeorites in urban settings, specifically “from accumulated sediments in the gutters of roofs.” He is the author of In Search of Stardust and On the Trail of Stardust: The Guide to Finding Micrometeorites.
Observe an entire gallery of micrometeorite images from Jon Larsen and Jan Braly Kihle at Science Friday: Up On The Roof, A Handful Of Urban Stardust. There, he notes:
“It’s fun, and the reward when you are face-to-face with the oldest matter in the solar system is very satisfying. “We humans are basically hunters, and hunting for stardust is a peaceful activity I recommend to everybody everywhere.”
How can you find micrometeorites where you live? Watch that next. Then follow it with Space Rocks: Comets, asteroids, meteors, and meteorites.
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