According to a new calculation carried out by researchers from the Center national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and the University of Paris-Saclay, and published in the journal Earth & Planetary Science Letters, every year 5,200 tons of micrometeorites (interplanetary dust from comets and asteroids that give rise to shooting stars) reach the Earth's soil.
We are talking about particles of a few tenths to hundredths of a millimeter that have passed through the atmosphere and reached the Earth's surface.
Six expeditions in search of micrometeorites
To collect and analyze these micrometeorites, six expeditions led by CNRS researcher Jean Duprat have taken place over the last twenty years near the Franco-Italian station of Concordia (Dome C), which is located 1,100 kilometers off the coast of Adélie Land in the heart of Antarctica.
This is the main source of extraterrestrial matter on our planet, far ahead of larger objects such as meteorites, whose flow is less than ten tons per year.
Most micrometeorites probably come from comets (80%) and the rest from asteroids.
–
The news
Every year, 5,200 tons of extraterrestrial material reach the surface of our planet
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.