Exploring the universe through dusty visions

Abstract

Dust in space is a universal phenomenon that can be observed within our cosmic neighbourhood. Examples include the dust from the surface of the moon to the further reaches of the outer solar system, such as Saturn’s rings, and even beyond in the galactic environment. Dust in the universe has constantly challenged astronomers’ views of heavenly bodies and phenomena, often obscuring light coming from those objects. With the advent of science and technology, followed by the development of modern instruments, cosmic dust is now considered an important source of information that helps to decipher the composition, evolution and formation histories of distant bodies across the universe. The nature of physico-chemical phenomena of unreachable objects and locations in the universe can be investigated by sampling dust in the solar system, much like photons of light captured from distant galaxies [1]. Typically, cosmic dust consists of particles ranging in size from nano-metres to millimetres. This dusty material is incorporated into comets, asteroids and meteorites during the evolution of the protoplanetary systems, and continually evolves on the surfaces of all airless bodies.