What is Cosmic Dust?
Cosmic dust is a substance which is found throughout the Universe. It consists of small grains of material and aggregates of such grains, with a composition which can vary radically, depending on the circumstances in which the dust is formed. Cosmic dust often has a crystalline structure, and it has a number of interesting properties which attract the attention of astronomers and other researchers who work in space, including chemists, physicists, and theoretical mathematicians. This substance was originally regarded as nothing more than a nuisance. Clouds of cosmic dust can obscure stars, planets, and other sights of interest in the Universe, and astronomers struggled for centuries to filter out cosmic dust so that they could make clear observations of various objects in the sky. Ultimately, researchers started to get interested in this extremely abundant substance, and they realized that cosmic dust actually plays a vital role in many of the processes in the Universe, including the f
Ithaca College physics professor Luke Keller and physics student Jordan Hyatt ’10 traveled recently to Heidelberg, Germany, to present their research on planet formation at the “Cosmic Dust: Near and Far” conference. An aerial view of Heidelberg Keller and Hyatt’s research was performed in collaboration with an international team that includes Ithaca College alumna Sweta Shah ’07. Their lecture and poster presentations summarized Keller’s recent lab work, which focused on the origin and physical nature of organic material orbiting very young stars. Their work is the subject of a journal article published in the September 1, 2008, edition of The Astrophysical Journal. Cosmic dust makes cosmic eye candy.
Ithaca College physics professor Luke Keller and physics student Jordan Hyatt ’10 traveled recently to Heidelberg, Germany, to present their research on planet formation at the “Cosmic Dust: Near and Far” conference. An aerial view of Heidelberg Keller and Hyatt’s research was performed in collaboration with an international team that includes Ithaca College alumna Sweta Shah ’07. Their lecture and poster presentations summarized Keller’s recent lab work, which focused on the origin and physical nature of organic material orbiting very young stars. Their work is the subject of a journal article published in the September 1, 2008, edition of The Astrophysical Journal. Cosmic dust makes cosmic eye candy. Originally published in Fuse: Student-Faculty Team Presents Research at “Cosmic Dust” Conference in Germany.
