Project to Study How Much Dust Earth Collects from Space

University of Leeds investigators announce the beginning of the Cosmic Dust in the Terrestrial Atmosphere (CODITA) project, whose main role is to determine the amount of dust particles that make their way into Earth's atmosphere daily and annually. These figures are currently unknown.

Estimates range from 5 to 300 tons daily, but scientists are puzzled at this huge discrepancy. The difference exists even if the studies that yielded these values were conducted rigorously. UL experts want to find out the source of this error, and provide an accurate value for this phenomenon.

CODITA uses funds from the European Research Council, and includes scientists from several research groups and universities around the world.

"People tend to think space is completely empty, but if all the dust between the Sun and Jupiter was compressed it would create a moon 16 miles across,” UL School of Chemistry professor John Plane explains.