00:03Space dust rains on Earth constantly, but because of its microscopic size, we never
00:09knew exactly how much. These micrometeorites are a fraction of a millimeter and are shed
00:15like dander from passing comets and asteroids. Earth's atmosphere is filled with all kinds
00:22of dust. In fact, according to Science Alert, there is about 17 million metric tons of dust
00:28blowing around our planet at any given time. To minimize the background dust, researchers
00:34went to Antarctica and spent 20 years collecting samples there and found that there are about
00:405,200 tons of micrometeorites smaller than 0.7 millimeters coming from outer space every year.
00:49The team also wanted to know the origin of the dust coming in and found that 80% of the
00:54samples they collected were from comets that passed nearby. The total mass of cosmic dust
01:00before entering our atmosphere is around 15,000 tons. While they aren't sure why these numbers
01:06don't add up, they think it may be due to the fact that we aren't able to detect all of
01:12the
01:12dust coming in and dust may be removed during entry. The third option is that there may be
01:18significantly less dust in space than we think. Researchers believe if they can figure out the
01:23reason why, they may be able to detect how water molecules and carbon entered Earth, which would
01:30provide clues about life itself.
01:33you
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