- An international team of scientists has discovered that the cosmic dust which helps with star and planet formation is spongier than previously thought.
- The study, published in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Review, suggests these tiny dust grains resemble “fluffy little sponges” with numerous voids, rather than solid miniature rocks.
- Some dust particles observed by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission to comet 67P exhibited porosities exceeding 99 per cent.
- Dr Alexey Potapov, the lead author, suggested that this increased porosity could fundamentally change the understanding of how molecules form and evolve in space due to a significantly larger surface area.
- The scientific community remains divided on the implications, with some models proposing that highly porous grains would be too cold or fragile, prompting calls for further observations, laboratory work, and modelling.
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