A new study suggests astrobiologists should study cosmic dust and other extraplanetary debris to search for life beyond Earth. According to research written by Tomonori Totani, a professor of astronomy at the University of Tokyo, up to 100,000 life-bearing dust particles can enter each year. when big asteroid if it hits a planet, the impact could have cosmic consequences – just ask the dinosaurs. (Or not; they died, destroyed by a space rock. crashed into Earth 66 million years ago.) These horrific collisions can create hemisphere-sized craters and scatter debris across planets and interstellar space.

new newspaperPublished Wednesday (March 22) in the International Journal of Astrobiology, Totani argues that debris launched into space with a strong enough impact on a habitable planet could carry evidence of that life into space.

Theoretically, fossilized microorganisms or other signs of life could be preserved in a planetary eruption as they move away from their home planet, waiting for them to survive the harsh conditions of outer space. Some of these debris particles may end up on the surfaces of other life-supporting planets like Earth, where they could potentially form a foothold or perhaps be investigated for evidence of alien life. life.

This idea is similar in some ways. panspermia hypothesis, which suggests that life is ubiquitous, spreading from one planetary body to another throughout the galaxy. Totani quotes this at the beginning of his article, along with his observation that Martian meteorites have been found on Earth. “My article explores this idea using available data on various aspects of this scenario,” Totani said. Press release.

Not all garbage exoplanets not only from the planet’s gravity, but also from stars-lord of this planet; instead, leaks should be small. Totani predicted that the fragments, about a micrometer (thousandth of a millimeter) wide, would be large enough to hold something like a single-celled organism and small enough to reach interstellar velocities.