Hello!

Today we will talk about a very interesting topic related to such a science as astronomy! Let's talk about space dust. I guess many of you have heard about it for the first time. So, you need to tell about her everything that only I know! At school - astronomy was one of my favorite subjects, I will say more - my favorite, because it was in astronomy that I passed the exam. Although I got the 13th ticket, which was the most difficult, I passed the exam perfectly and was satisfied!

If it is quite accessible to say what cosmic dust is, then one can imagine all the fragments that are only in the Universe from cosmic matter, for example, from asteroids. And the Universe after all is not only Space! Do not confuse, my dear and good! The Universe is our whole world - our whole huge globe!

For example, cosmic dust can be formed when two asteroids collide in space and during the collision, they break down into small particles. Many scientists are also inclined to believe that its formation is associated with when the interstellar gas thickens.

How it is formed, we just found out, now we will learn about how it arises. As a rule, these dust grains simply arise in the atmospheres of red stars, if you have heard, such red stars are also called dwarf stars; occur when various explosions occur on stars; when gas is actively ejected from the very nuclei of galaxies; protostellar and planetary nebula - also contributes to its occurrence, however, like the stellar atmosphere itself and interstellar clouds.

As for the species, regarding the origin, we distinguish the following species:

interstellar type of dust, when an explosion occurs on the stars, a huge release of gas and a powerful release of energy occur

intergalactic,

interplanetary,

circumplanetary: appeared as "garbage", remnants, after the formation of other planets.

black circles, small, shiny

black circles, but larger in size, having a rough surface

circles are black and white balls, which in their composition have a silicate base

circles, which consist of glass and metal, they are heterogeneous, and small (20 nm)

circles similar to magnetite powder, they are black and look like black sand

ash-like and slag-like circles

a species that was formed from the collision of asteroids, comets, meteorites

Lucky question! Of course it can. And from the collision of meteorites, too. From the collision of any celestial bodies, its formation is possible.

The question of the formation and origin of cosmic dust is still controversial, and different scientists put forward their points of view, but you can adhere to one or two points of view that are close to you on this issue. For example, the one that is more understandable.

After all, even with respect to its species there is no absolutely accurate classification!

balls, the basis of which is homogeneous; their shell is oxidized;

balls, the basis of which is silicate; since they have inclusions of gas, their appearance is often similar to slag or foam;

balls, the basis of which is metal with a core of nickel and cobalt; the shell is also oxidized;

circles whose filling is hollow.

they can be icy, and their shell consists of light elements; in large ice particles there are even atoms that have magnetic properties,

circles with silicate and graphite inclusions,

circles consisting of oxides, which are based on diatomic oxides:

Space dust is not fully understood! There are a lot of open questions, because they are controversial, but I think we still have the main ideas now!

Hello. In this lecture, we will talk to you about dust. But not about the one that accumulates in your rooms, but about cosmic dust. What is it?

Space dust is very small particles of solid matter found in any part of the universe, including meteoritic dust and interstellar matter that can absorb starlight and form dark nebulae in galaxies. Spherical dust particles about 0.05 mm in diameter are found in some marine sediments; it is believed that these are the remains of those 5,000 tons of cosmic dust that annually fall on the globe.

Scientists believe that cosmic dust is formed not only from the collision, the destruction of small solid bodies, but also due to the thickening of interstellar gas. Cosmic dust is distinguished by its origin: dust is intergalactic, interstellar, interplanetary and circumplanetary (usually in a ring system).

Cosmic dust grains arise mainly in the slowly outflowing atmospheres of red dwarf stars, as well as in explosive processes on stars and in the rapid ejection of gas from the nuclei of galaxies. Other sources of cosmic dust are planetary and protostellar nebulae, stellar atmospheres, and interstellar clouds.

Entire clouds of cosmic dust, which are in the layer of stars that form the Milky Way, prevent us from observing distant star clusters. A star cluster like the Pleiades is completely submerged in a dust cloud. The brightest stars that are in this cluster illuminate the dust, as a lantern illuminates the fog at night. Cosmic dust can only shine by reflected light.

Blue rays of light passing through cosmic dust are attenuated more than red ones, so the light of stars reaching us appears yellowish and even reddish. Entire regions of world space remain closed to observation precisely because of cosmic dust.

Interplanetary dust, at least in comparative proximity to the Earth, is a fairly well-studied matter. Filling the entire space of the solar system and concentrated in the plane of its equator, it was born for the most part as a result of random collisions of asteroids and the destruction of comets approaching the Sun. The composition of dust, in fact, does not differ from the composition of meteorites falling to the Earth: it is very interesting to study it, and there are still many discoveries to be made in this area, but it seems that there is no particular intrigue here. But thanks to this particular dust, in fine weather in the west immediately after sunset or in the east before sunrise, you can admire a pale cone of light above the horizon. This is the so-called zodiacal - sunlight scattered by small cosmic dust particles.

Much more interesting is interstellar dust. Its distinctive feature is the presence of a solid core and shell. The core appears to consist mainly of carbon, silicon, and metals. And the shell is mainly made of gaseous elements frozen on the surface of the nucleus, crystallized in the conditions of “deep freezing” of interstellar space, and this is about 10 kelvins, hydrogen and oxygen. However, there are impurities of molecules in it and more complicated. These are ammonia, methane, and even polyatomic organic molecules that stick to a grain of dust or form on its surface during wanderings. Some of these substances, of course, fly away from its surface, for example, under the action of ultraviolet radiation, but this process is reversible - some fly away, others freeze or are synthesized.

If the galaxy has formed, then where does the dust come from - in principle, scientists understand. Its most significant sources are novae and supernovae, which lose part of their mass, "dumping" the shell into the surrounding space. In addition, dust is also born in the expanding atmosphere of red giants, from where it is literally swept away by radiation pressure. In their cool, by the standards of stars, atmosphere (about 2.5 - 3 thousand kelvins) there are quite a lot of relatively complex molecules.
But here's a mystery that hasn't been solved yet. It has always been believed that dust is a product of the evolution of stars. In other words, stars must be born, exist for some time, grow old and, say, produce dust in the last supernova explosion. What came first, the egg or the chicken? The first dust necessary for the birth of a star, or the first star, which for some reason was born without the help of dust, grew old, exploded, forming the very first dust.
What was in the beginning? After all, when the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago, there were only hydrogen and helium in the Universe, no other elements! It was then that the first galaxies, huge clouds, and in them the first stars began to emerge from them, which had to go a long way in life. Thermonuclear reactions in the cores of stars were supposed to “weld” more complex chemical elements, turn hydrogen and helium into carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and so on, and only after that the star had to throw it all into space, exploding or gradually dropping the shell. Then this mass had to cool, cool down and, finally, turn into dust. But already 2 billion years after the Big Bang, in the earliest galaxies, there was dust! With the help of telescopes, it was discovered in galaxies that are 12 billion light years away from ours. At the same time, 2 billion years is too short a period for the full life cycle of a star: during this time, most stars do not have time to grow old. Where the dust came from in the young Galaxy, if there should be nothing but hydrogen and helium, is a mystery.

Looking at the time, the professor smiled slightly.

But you will try to unravel this mystery at home. Let's write the task.

Homework.

1. Try to reason about what appeared first, the first star or is it still dust?

Additional task.

1. Report about any kind of dust (interstellar, interplanetary, circumplanetary, intergalactic)

2. Composition. Imagine yourself as a scientist assigned to investigate space dust.

3. Pictures.

homemade task for students:

1. Why is dust needed in space?

Additional task.

1. Report about any kind of dust. Former students of the school remember the rules.

2. Composition. Disappearance of cosmic dust.

3. Pictures.

Where does cosmic dust come from? Our planet is surrounded by a dense air shell - the atmosphere. The composition of the atmosphere, in addition to the well-known gases, also includes solid particles - dust.

Basically, it consists of soil particles rising up under the influence of wind. During volcanic eruptions, powerful dust clouds are often observed. Entire "dust caps" hang over large cities, reaching a height of 2-3 km. The number of dust particles in one cube. cm of air in cities reaches 100 thousand pieces, while in the clean mountain air they contain only a few hundred. However, dust of terrestrial origin rises to relatively small heights - up to 10 km. Volcanic dust can reach a height of 40-50 km.

Origin of cosmic dust

The presence of dust clouds at a height significantly exceeding 100 km has been established. These are the so-called "silver clouds", consisting of cosmic dust.

The origin of cosmic dust is extremely diverse: it includes the remains of decayed comets, and particles of matter ejected by the Sun and brought to us by the force of light pressure.

Naturally, under the influence of gravity, a significant part of these cosmic dust particles slowly settles to the earth. The presence of such cosmic dust has been detected on high snowy peaks.

meteorites

In addition to this slowly settling cosmic dust, hundreds of millions of meteors burst into the confines of our atmosphere every day - what we call "shooting stars". Flying at an cosmic speed of hundreds of kilometers per second, they burn out from friction against air particles before they reach the surface of the earth. The products of their combustion also settle to the ground.

However, among the meteors there are exceptionally large specimens that reach the surface of the earth. Thus, the fall of the large Tunguska meteorite at 5 am on June 30, 1908 is known, accompanied by a number of seismic phenomena noted even in Washington (9 thousand km from the place of impact) and indicating the power of the explosion during the fall of the meteorite. Professor Kulik, who examined the meteorite impact site with exceptional courage, found a thicket of windbreak surrounding the impact site within a radius of hundreds of kilometers. Unfortunately, the meteorite was not found. An employee of the British Museum Kirpatrick made a special trip to the USSR in 1932, but did not even get to the place where the meteorite fell. However, he confirmed the assumption of Professor Kulik, who estimated the mass of the fallen meteorite at 100-120 tons.

Space dust cloud

The hypothesis of academician V. I. Vernadsky is interesting, who considered it possible that not a meteorite could fall, but a huge cloud of cosmic dust moving at an enormous speed.

Academician Vernadsky confirmed his hypothesis by the appearance these days of a large number of luminous clouds moving at high altitude at a speed of 300-350 km per hour. This hypothesis could also explain the fact that the trees surrounding the meteorite crater remained standing, while those located further were knocked down by the blast wave.

In addition to the Tunguska meteorite, a number of craters of meteorite origin are also known. The first of these surveyed craters can be called the Arizona crater in the "Devil's Canyon". Interestingly, not only fragments of an iron meteorite were found near it, but also small diamonds formed from carbon from high temperature and pressure during the fall and explosion of a meteorite.
In addition to these craters, which testify to the fall of huge meteorites weighing tens of tons, there are also smaller craters: in Australia, on Ezel Island and a number of others.

In addition to large meteorites, quite a lot of smaller ones fall annually - weighing from 10-12 grams to 2-3 kilograms.

If the Earth were not protected by a dense atmosphere, every second we would be bombarded by the smallest cosmic particles, rushing at a speed exceeding the speed of a bullet.

: It should not be at cosmic speeds, but there is.
If a car is driving along the road and another one butts it in the ass, then it will only slightly grind its teeth. And if at the same speed oncoming or sideways? There is a difference.
Now, let's say that it's the same in space, the Earth rotates in one direction and along the way, the garbage of Phaeton or something else is spinning. Then there may be a soft descent.

I was surprised by the very large number of observations of the appearance of comets in the 19th century. Here are some statistics:

Clickable

A meteorite with fossilized remains of living organisms. The conclusion is fragments from the planet. Phaeton?

huan_de_vsad in his article Symbols of the medals of Peter the Great pointed out a very interesting excerpt from the Pismovnik of 1818, where, among other things, there is a small note about the comet of 1680:

In other words, it was this comet that a certain Wiston attributed to the body that caused the Flood described in the Bible. Those. in this theory, the global flood was in 2345 BC. It should be noted that there are a lot of dates associated with the Flood.

This comet was observed from December 1680 to February 1681 (7188). It was at its brightest in January.

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5elena4 : “Almost in the middle ... of the sky above Prechistensky Boulevard, surrounded, sprinkled on all sides with stars, but differing from all in proximity to the earth, white light and a long tail raised up, stood a huge bright comet of 1812, the very comet that foreshadowed, as they said, all sorts of horrors and the end of the world.

L. Tolstoy on behalf of Pierre Bezukhov, passing through Moscow ("War and Peace"):

At the entrance to the Arbat Square, a huge expanse of starry dark sky opened up to Pierre's eyes. Almost in the middle of this sky above Prechistensky Boulevard, surrounded, sprinkled on all sides with stars, but differing from all in proximity to the earth, white light, and a long tail raised upwards, stood a huge bright comet of 1812, the same comet that foreshadowed , as they said, all sorts of horrors and the end of the world. But in Pierre, this bright star with a long radiant tail did not arouse any terrible feeling. Opposite, Pierre joyfully, with eyes wet with tears, looked at this bright star, which, as if, having flown immeasurable spaces along a parabolic line with inexpressible speed, suddenly, like an arrow piercing the ground, slammed here into one place it had chosen, in the black sky, and stopped, vigorously lifting her tail up, shining and playing with her white light between countless other twinkling stars. It seemed to Pierre that this star fully corresponded to what was in his blossoming towards a new life, softened and encouraged soul.

L. N. Tolstoy. "War and Peace". Volume II. Part V. Chapter XXII

The comet hovered over Eurasia for 290 days and is considered the largest comet in history.

Vicki calls it "the comet of 1811" because it passed its perihelion in that year. And in the next one it was very clearly visible from the Earth. Everyone especially mentions the excellent grapes and wine of that year. Harvest is associated with a comet. "Fault comet splashed current" - from "Eugene Onegin".

In the work of V. S. Pikul "To each his own":

“Champagne surprised the Russians with the poverty of the inhabitants and the wealth of the wine cellars. Napoleon was still preparing a campaign against Moscow, when the world was stunned by the appearance of the brightest comet, under the sign of which Champagne in 1811 gave an unprecedented harvest of large juicy grapes. Now the effervescent "vin de la comete" Russian Cossacks; taken away in buckets and given to drink to the exhausted horses - for invigoration: - Lakay, twig! Not far from Paris...
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This is an engraving dated 1857, that is, the artist depicted not the impression of the impending danger, but the danger itself. And it seems to me that the picture is a cataclysm. Those catastrophic events on Earth that were associated with the appearance of comets are presented. Napoleon's soldiers took the appearance of this comet as a bad sign. In addition, she really hung in the sky for an ugly long time. According to some reports, up to a year and a half.

It turned out that the diameter of the comet's head - the nucleus, together with the diffuse foggy atmosphere surrounding it - the coma - is larger than the diameter of the Sun (until now, the comet 1811 I remains the largest of all known). The length of its tail reached 176 million kilometers. The famous English astronomer W. Herschel describes the shape of the tail as "... an inverted empty cone of yellowish color, which contrasts sharply with the bluish-greenish tone of the head." To some observers, the color of the comet appeared reddish, especially at the end of the third week of October, when the comet was very bright and shone in the sky all night.

At the same time, North America was shaking with a powerful earthquake near the city of New Madrid. As far as I understand, this is practically the center of the continent. Experts still do not understand what provoked that earthquake. According to one version, it occurred due to the gradual rise of the continent (?!)
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Very interesting information in this post: The real cause of the 1824 flood in St. Petersburg. It can be assumed that such winds in 1824. were caused by the fall somewhere in the desert area, say, Africa, of a large body or bodies, asteroids.
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A. Stepanenko ( chispa1707 ) there is information that mass insanity in the Middle Ages in Europe was caused by poisonous water from dust falling from the tail of a comet to Earth. Can be found at this video
Or in this article
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The following facts also indirectly testify to the opacity of the atmosphere and the onset of cold weather in Europe:

The 17th century is marked as the Little Ice Age, it also had moderate periods with good summers with periods of intense heat.
However, winter gets a lot of attention in the book. In the years from 1691 to 1698, the winters were harsh and famine for Scandinavia. Before 1800, hunger was the greatest fear for the common man. In 1709 there was an exceptionally severe winter. It was the beauty of a cold wave. The temperature dropped to the extreme. Fahrenheit experimented with thermometers and Krukius made all temperature measurements in Delft. "Holland got hit hard. But especially Germany and France were hit by a cold, with temperatures up to - 30 degrees and the population got the biggest famine since the Middle Ages.
..........
Bayusman also says that he wondered if he would consider the beginning of the Little Ice Age 1550. In the end, he decided that this happened in 1430. A number of cold winters begin this year. After some fluctuations in temperature, the Little Ice Age begins from the end of the 16th century to the end of the 17th century, ending around 1800.
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So could soil fall out of space, which turned into clay? This question will try to answer this information:

During the day, 400 tons of cosmic dust and 10 tons of meteorite matter fall to Earth from space. So reports the brief guide "Alpha and Omega" published in Tallinn in 1991. Considering that the surface area of ​​the Earth is 511 million sq. km., of which 361 million sq. km. - this is the surface of the oceans, we do not notice it.

According to other data:
Until now, scientists did not know the exact amount of dust that falls on Earth. It was believed that every day from 400 kg to 100 tons of this space debris falls on our planet. In recent studies, scientists have been able to calculate the amount of sodium in our atmosphere, and get accurate data. Since the amount of sodium in the atmosphere is equivalent to the amount of dust from space, it turned out that every day the Earth receives about 60 tons of additional pollution.

That is, this process is present, but at present, precipitation occurs in minimal quantities, insufficient to bring buildings.
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In favor of the theory of panspermia, according to scientists from Cardiff, says the analysis of samples of material from the comet Wild-2, collected by the Stardust spacecraft. He showed the presence in them of a number of complex hydrocarbon molecules. In addition, the study of the composition of comet Tempel-1 using the Deep Impact probe showed the presence of a mixture of organic compounds and clay in it. It is believed that the latter could serve as a catalyst for the formation of complex organic compounds from simple hydrocarbons.

Clay is a likely catalyst for the transformation of simple organic molecules into complex biopolymers on the early Earth. Now, however, Wickramasing and his colleagues claim that the total volume of clay environment on comets favorable for the emergence of life is many times greater than that of our own planet. (publication in the international astrobiological journal International Journal of Astrobiology).

According to new estimates, on the early Earth, the favorable environment was limited to a volume of about 10 thousand cubic kilometers, and a single comet 20 kilometers across could provide a "cradle" for life about one-tenth of its volume. If we take into account the contents of all the comets in the solar system (and there are billions of them), then the size of a suitable medium will be 1012 times larger than that of the Earth.

Of course, not all scientists agree with the conclusions of the Wickramasing group. For example, American comet expert Michael Mumma from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC, Maryland) believes that there is no way to talk about the presence of clay particles in all comets without exception (in samples of the comet Wild 2 (Wild 2), delivered to Earth by the NASA Stardust probe in January 2006, for example, they are not).

The following articles appear regularly in the press:

Thousands of drivers from the Zemplinsky region, bordering the Transcarpathian region, found their cars in parking lots with a thin film of yellow dust on Thursday morning. We are talking about the districts of the cities of Snina, Humennoe, Trebisov, Medzilaborce, Michalovce and Stropkov Vranovsky.
It is dust and sand that got into the clouds of eastern Slovakia, says Ivan Garčar, spokesman for the Hydrometeorological Institute of Slovakia. Strong winds in western Libya and Egypt, he said, began on Tuesday, May 28. A large amount of dust and sand got into the air. Such air currents dominated the Mediterranean, near southern Italy and northwestern Greece.
The next day, one part penetrated deep into the Balkans (eg Serbia) and northern Hungary, while the second part of the various dust streams from Greece returned to Turkey.
Such meteorological situations of sand and dust transfer from the Sahara are very rare in Europe, so it is not necessary to say that this phenomenon can become an annual event.

Cases of sand fallout are far from uncommon:

Residents of many regions of the Crimea today noted an unusual phenomenon: heavy rain was accompanied by small grains of sand of various colors - from gray to red. As it turned out, this is a consequence of dust storms in the Sahara desert, which brought the southern cyclone. Rains with sand passed, in particular, over Simferopol, Sevastopol, the Black Sea region.

An unusual snowfall took place in the Saratov region and the city itself: in some areas, residents noticed yellow-brown precipitation. Explanations of meteorologists: “Nothing supernatural is happening. Now the weather in our region is due to the influence of a cyclone that came from the southwest in our region. Air mass comes to us from North Africa through the Mediterranean and Black Seas, saturated with moisture. The air mass, dusty from the regions of the Sahara, received a portion of sand, and, having been enriched with moisture, it is now watering not only the European territory of Russia, but also the Crimean peninsula.

We add that colored snow has already caused a commotion in several Russian cities. For example, in 2007, residents of the Omsk region saw unusual orange precipitation. At their request, an examination was carried out, which showed that the snow was safe, it just had an excess of iron concentration, which caused the unusual color. In the same winter, yellowish snow was seen in the Tyumen region, and soon gray snow fell in Gorno-Altaisk. The analysis of the Altai snow revealed the presence of earthen dust in the sediments. Experts explained that this is a consequence of dust storms in Kazakhstan.
Note that snow can also be pink: for example, in 2006, snow the color of ripe watermelon fell in Colorado. Eyewitnesses claimed that it also tasted like watermelon. Similar reddish snow is found high in the mountains and in the circumpolar regions of the Earth, and its color is due to the mass reproduction of one of the species of chlamydomonas algae.

red rain
They are mentioned by ancient scientists and writers, for example, Homer, Plutarch, and medieval ones, such as Al-Gazen. The most famous rains of this kind fell:
1803, February - in Italy;
1813, February - in Calabria;
1838, April - in Algiers;
1842, March - in Greece;
1852, March - in Lyon;
1869, March - in Sicily;
1870, February - in Rome;
1887, June - in Fontainebleau.

They are also observed outside Europe, for example, on the islands of Cape Verde, on the Cape of Good Hope, etc. Blood rains come from an admixture of red dust to ordinary rains, consisting of the smallest organisms of red color. The birthplace of this dust is Africa, where it rises to great heights with strong winds and is carried by upper air currents to Europe. Hence its other name - "trade wind dust".

black rain
They appear due to the admixture of volcanic or cosmic dust to ordinary rains. On November 9, 1819, black rain fell in Montreal, Canada. A similar incident was also observed on August 14, 1888 at the Cape of Good Hope.

White (milk) rains
They are observed in those places where there are chalk rocks. The chalk dust is blown up and turns the raindrops milky white.
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Everything is explained by dust storms and raised masses of sand and dust into the atmosphere. Just a question: why are the places where sand falls out so selective? And how is this sand transported for thousands of kilometers without falling out along the way from the places of its rise? Even if a dust storm lifted tons of sand into the sky, it should begin to fall immediately as this vortex or front moves.
Or maybe the fallout of sandy, dusty soils (which we observe in the idea of ​​sandy loam and clay covering the cultural layers of the 19th century) continues? But only in incomparably smaller quantities? And earlier there were moments when the fallout was so large-scale and fast that it covered territories for meters. Then, under the rains, this dust turned into clay, sandy loam. And where there was a lot of rain, this mass turned into mudflows. Why is this not in history? Maybe due to the fact that people considered this phenomenon to be ordinary? Same dust storm. Now there is television, the Internet, a lot of newspapers. Information becomes public quickly. This used to be more difficult. The publicity of phenomena and events was not of such an informational scale.
While this is a version, because. there is no direct evidence. But, perhaps, one of the readers will offer more information?
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Supernova SN2010jl Photo: NASA/STScI

For the first time, astronomers have observed the formation of cosmic dust in the immediate vicinity of a supernova in real time, allowing them to explain this mysterious phenomenon that occurs in two stages. The process begins shortly after the explosion but continues for many more years, the researchers write in the journal Nature.

We are all made up of stardust, of the elements that are the building material for new celestial bodies. Astronomers have long assumed that this dust is formed when stars explode. But how exactly this happens and how dust particles are not destroyed in the vicinity of galaxies, where there is an active one, has so far remained a mystery.

This question was first clarified by observations made with the Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. An international research team led by Christa Gall (Christa Gall) from the Danish University of Aarhus investigated a supernova that occurred in 2010 in a galaxy 160 million light years away from us. The researchers observed with catalog number SN2010jl in the visible and infrared light ranges for months and first years using the X-Shooter spectrograph.

“When we combined the observational data, we were able to make the first measurement of the absorption of different wavelengths in the dust around the supernova,” Gall explains. “This allowed us to learn more about this dust than was previously known.” Thus, it became possible to study in more detail the various sizes of dust particles and their formation.

Dust in the immediate vicinity of a supernova occurs in two stages. Photo: © ESO/M. Kornmesser

As it turned out, dust particles larger than a thousandth of a millimeter are formed in the dense material around the star relatively quickly. The sizes of these particles are surprisingly large for cosmic dust particles, which makes them resistant to destruction by galactic processes. “Our evidence of large dust particles occurring shortly after a supernova explosion means that there must be a fast and efficient way to form them,” adds co-author Jens Hjorth of the University of Copenhagen. “But we don’t yet understand exactly how this happens.”

However, astronomers already have a theory based on their observations. Based on it, the formation of dust proceeds in 2 stages:

1. The star pushes material into its surrounding space shortly before the explosion. Then comes and spreads the shock wave of the supernova, behind which a cool and dense shell of gas is created - the environment into which dust particles from the previously ejected material can condense and grow.
2. In the second stage, several hundred days after the supernova explosion, material that was ejected in the explosion itself is added and an accelerated process of dust formation occurs.

“Recently, astronomers have found a lot of dust in the remnants of supernovae that emerged after the explosion. However, they also found evidence for a small amount of dust that actually originated in the supernova itself. New observations explain how this seeming contradiction can be resolved," concludes Christa Gall.