There's Probably a Piece of Cosmic Dust Within Your Reaching Distance

The planets residing in our solar system, just like the exoplanets of every other stellar system throughout the universe, formed when cosmic dust clumped together over billions of years.

Given just how much time has passed since the formation of the planets, you might feel inclined to think most of the universe's cosmic dust has found a home by now. Contrarily, cosmic dust continues to swirl around in outer space to this very day.

Specks of cosmic dust can be so small that you can't see them with the naked eye. Some pieces measure a mere 0.01mm across in size. Up to 60 tons of the stuff lands on Earth's surface every day, and it's so small that it doesn't burn up in the atmosphere when it enters.

With as much cosmic dust on the Earth's surface as there is, you're probably within reaching-distance of some right now. It's just about everywhere, and it can tell us a lot about the solar system and the rest of the universe around us.