Cosmic dust can knock off living things in the atmosphere

Cosmic dust particles that travel through the Earth every day can push living organisms into the atmosphere into space.

New research shows that it is possible to plunge through the Earth's atmosphere and push organisms living on it into space, moving in the solar system, even to other star systems, Newsweek reported on November 20. The study was published in Astrobiology magazine, conducted by Arjun Berera, a particle physicist at Edinburgh University.

About 60 tons of cosmic dust collides with the Earth every day. This amount of dust can contribute to the formation of Left atmosphere and plant growth. Some grains of dust stabbed straight into the Earth, others just grazed. These dust particles are very small and move at extremely fast speeds, sometimes up to nearly 232,000 km / h.

Every day, 60 tons of cosmic dust collides with the Earth.(Photo: Newsweek).

According to Berera's calculations, the dust flow may be strong enough to collide and push small organisms on Earth's atmosphere into the universe. This force can cause them to fly to other planets in the solar system, even to nearby star systems.

The new study is based on the phenomenon of some small living organisms that exist on the outer layers of the Earth's atmosphere, according to Newsweek. Scientists say they can also affect the weather. Even if they are too large and cannot survive when thrown off the Earth, smaller and essential particles for living organisms will also bounce off the atmosphere when colliding with cosmic dust.

Berera said that dust particles that sweep the Earth could sweep these bacteria and smaller components from the atmosphere into the universe. From there, they can cling to other celestial bodies, such as comets, and continue to travel in space.

Berera is very cautious with new research. He notes that escaping is not simple. Later trips will also encounter many obstacles and the process of exiting the solar system can kill living organisms.

However, if this hypothesis is correct, then the matter of Earth hitting the universe will happen every day, unlike the crashing meteorite, which also pushes some of the material on Earth into space that rarely occurs. .

What is cosmic dust?

Cosmic dust is small particles of matter scattered in the space between celestial bodies. According to the current concept, cosmic dust is made up of particles about 1 μm in size with cores (cores) of graphite and silicate. In galaxies, they aggregate into clouds like Oort clouds and nebulae.