Like tiny skydivers, particles of space dust use water to “parachute” safely to Earth. This helps wet particles withstand the plunge to Earth better than dry ones, meaning we may be overestimating the wetness of nearby asteroids.
The area around Earth is full of cosmic dust particles, so Earth is full of them too. “Cosmic dust is everywhere: it is on our streets, it’s in our homes, and it’s quite possibly on our clothes as well,” says Matthew Genge at Imperial College London, who has studied these micrometeorites for decades. “You’re probably no more than a few feet away from a cosmic dust particle that parachuted through the atmosphere.”
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