NASA creates cosmic dust in the laboratory

Scientists at the Ames Research Center of the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the first time successfully recreated dust tiny particles that usually only accumulate around red giants.

Cosmic dust was created in the laboratory - (Photo: NASA / AMES)

Dust on the Earth is listed as a nuisance, but space dust is extremely special - it helps create blocks of planetary construction materials.

Using the Space Simulation Room (COSmIC) , Ames experts were able to create the type of dust pumped into the interstellar disk (ie, the dusty gas that lies between the stars) when a star is approaching. end of its life.

For example, our sun will swell into a red giant star when it burns out hydrogen fuel in the core (in a few billion years), and begins the process of stripping off the outer layers, spraying dust material. time.

However, until now, the mechanisms behind the tiny dust particles are still mysterious and cannot be replicated in laboratory conditions, according to Space.com.

Thanks to COSmIC, NASA experts have created cosmic dust , which has since entered the study to uncover clues to the formation and development of the universe.