Who knew that the solar system was actually full of space dust, instead of being mostly empty? Scientists have determined that our solar system is currently experiencing a cosmic dust storm, with at least three times as much dust passing through compared to just a few years ago, according to Space.com.
“We not only do not know what the stuff is, but we do not know where it is made or how it gets into space,” said Donald York, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago and part of the team working on the problem, in the article.
Where is it all coming from? The scientists cited the double star system HD 44179, which lies in the Red Rectangle 2,300 light-years away, as the culprit. The report said that the increase in dust in our system is due to a periodic weakening of the sun’s magnetic field, and that sometime in the next 10,000 years, we’ll plow through the G-cloud, a region of dust more dense than the one we’re currently sailing through. Good times.
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