Cosmic dust could help find traces of interstellar comets

Russia has developed a technique that makes it possible to identify interstellar comets with ground-based instruments. The method consists in studying space dust that settles on Earth.

According to scientists, these particles differ depending on the place of formation. For example, those of asteroidal origin are solid and dense, while particles of cometary origin have a more loose and porous structure.

There are also dust particles that were formed by explosion or ablation (blowing off the surface of a solid body) when space bodies enter dense layers of the atmosphere. Such extreme impacts cause a change in their internal structure. Such particles may include cracks, veins, gas bubbles.

Further development of the method may be related to the study of interstellar objects.

"When studying dust samples that belong to the Chulym space body, our group discovered micron-thick nickel films sprayed on the surface. In this case, pure nickel cannot be formed in the Earth's crust," said Vladimir Celmovich, a leading researcher at the Borok Geophysical Observatory, a branch of the IFZ RAS.

He explained that earlier this fact was simply registered and described in articles. However, then European astrophysicists found spectral lines of pure nickel and iron in the plume of comet Borisov - the first object that was recognized as an "alien" from another star system.

Based on this data, Russian scientists have suggested that perhaps the two events are related. Therefore, the nickel films could also be markers of interstellar comets.

Read more in the exclusive material "Izvestia":

Dust has grown: particles from space will help to find traces of interstellar comets