https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/58254/does-space-dust-fall-on-the-roof-of-my-house-and-if-so-can-i-detect-it-with-a-ch Skip to main content Stack Exchange Network Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Visit Stack Exchange [ ] Loading... 1. + Tour Start here for a quick overview of the site + Help Center Detailed answers to any questions you might have + Meta Discuss the workings and policies of this site + About Us Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products 2. 3. current community + Astronomy help chat + Astronomy Meta your communities Sign up or log in to customize your list. more stack exchange communities company blog 4. 5. Log in 6. Sign up Astronomy 1. 1. Home 2. Questions 3. Tags 4. 5. Users 6. Unanswered 2. Teams Now available on Stack Overflow for Teams! AI features where you work: search, IDE, and chat. Learn more Explore Teams 3. Teams 4. Ask questions, find answers and collaborate at work with Stack Overflow for Teams. Explore Teams Teams Q&A for work Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Learn more about Teams Does space dust fall on the roof of my house and if so can I detect it with a cheap home microscope? Ask Question Asked yesterday Modified today Viewed 8k times 23 $\begingroup$ If I scraped dirt off the roof of my house, would I find traces of rock from space? Could I see it is space rock under a home microscope? Could I drop the dirt into water and see denser space rock sinking faster? Is there any simple home experiment I could do to determine I have got some rock from space? * meteor Share Improve this question Follow edited 21 hours ago Paulo Ebermann's user avatar Paulo Ebermann 18755 bronze badges asked yesterday DaveTheWave's user avatar DaveTheWaveDaveTheWave 39711 silver badge55 bronze badges $\endgroup$ Add a comment | 2 Answers 2 Sorted by: Reset to default [Highest score (default) ] 29 $\begingroup$ Can you find (occasional) micrometeorites on the roof of your house? The Norwegian jazz musician Jon Larsen has more or less done exactly that, and even written books about it, including On the Trail of Stardust: The Guide to Finding Micrometeorites: Tools, Techniques, and Identification. It sounds like a rather tedious process, especially if you want to distinguish actual micrometeorites from random fragments of fireworks, degrading roof tiles, etc. (One of the starting points is to pick out iron- and nickel-rich fragments using a strong magnet.) Here's a site by another micrometeorite hunter (inspired by Larsen), including suggested equipment and advice: https:// micro-meteorites.com Share Improve this answer Follow answered yesterday Peter Erwin's user avatar Peter ErwinPeter Erwin 17.7k11 gold badge4242 silver badges5858 bronze badges $\endgroup$ 8 * 7 $\begingroup$ I'd upvote this just for finding a jazz connection. :-) $\endgroup$ - StephenG - Help Ukraine Commented yesterday * 4 $\begingroup$ I was playing jazz on my electronic keyboard just before I read these comments! $\endgroup$ - DaveTheWave Commented yesterday * 4 $\begingroup$ @Peter Erwin Having read the links you provided I am definitely going to have a go at finding some micrometeorites! $\endgroup$ - DaveTheWave Commented yesterday * 3 $\begingroup$ @DaveTheWave Cool; have fun! (Jon Larsen and his discoveries are featured in The Werner Herzog documentary Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds; that's where I first heard about him.) $\endgroup$ - Peter Erwin Commented yesterday * 6 $\begingroup$ +1 but I'm getting a 404 error from the link to micro-meterorites.com $\endgroup$ - Dave Gremlin Commented yesterday | Show 3 more comments 8 $\begingroup$ If you live in a home with gutters and downspouts, you can easily attempt to collect micrometeorites. They aren't common, but with patience you should succeed sooner or later. 1. Select a piece of roof for your collection area and identify the gutter and downspout that collect its runoff. 2. Attach a strong neodymium magnet to the bottom of the downspout, just past where it bends. You can place one inside and one outside to keep them in place with friction. (Or perhaps use something iron/magnetizable steel on the outside of the pipe, like a thick galvanized washer). 3. Wash the roof off to dislodge anything loose and clean the gutter thoroughly. The magnet should collect anything that comes off of your roof that is ferromagnetic, and that includes a fraction of micrometeorites. 4. Alternatively, wait. If you live in an area with snow pack, doing this in the fall and then collecting in the spring when the snow melts yields a number of magnetic particles. I'm not sure how well it would work in a warmer area, as I suspect constant wetness will tend to corrode away the metallic particles. It might be the sort of thing you'd do after each rainstorm in order to be successful. Another idea might be to remove the bottom of the downspout and let the water run into a large bucket so that anything dense sinks to the bottom. Sort with a magnet after rainstorms as shown in the Cody's Lab video I've linked below. An article by Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer) says that each square meter of surface is hit by 1 - 2 micrometeorites per year. He also talks about the method I've described above and the likelihood that you'll gather far more magnetic fly ash than you will micrometeorites, particularly in urban areas. Still, it's worth a try. Cody, of Cody's Lab, made a video a while back collecting material from the surface of snow following the Geminid meteor shower that you might also find interesting. (It's labeled as part 1 but unfortunately there was never a part 2). Share Improve this answer Follow answered yesterday Jason Patterson's user avatar Jason PattersonJason Patterson 21144 bronze badges $\endgroup$ 2 * 2 $\begingroup$ Jon Larsen and collaborators have found micrometeorites on roofs in places like Pasadena, California, and Barcelona, Spain, so it's certainly possible in "warmer areas". $ \endgroup$ - Peter Erwin Commented 20 hours ago * $\begingroup$ Warm areas are not the same thing as wet ones... $\ endgroup$ - Kevin Carlson Commented 2 hours ago Add a comment | You must log in to answer this question. 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