More than 5,000 tonnes of extraterrestrial dust falls to Earth every year

Researchers from the CNRS traveled to the Antarctic to collect galactic dust. – Photo: AFP

According to a new study from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), every year, around 5,200 tonnes of galactic dust penetrates our atmosphere to land on planet Earth. Created by comets and asteroids, when it enters the atmosphere, the dust particles can flare up, giving rise to shooting stars.

Reaching the ground in the form of micrometeorites, the dust is a phenomenon that has always existed, but one that had yet to be quantified. Most of the time, it is composed of tiny particles, of the order of a few tenths to hundredths of a millimetre, which have managed to pass through the atmosphere to reach the surface of the planet.