Intergalactic dust

Imagine you are in your room and it's all dusty. You see small particles floating in the air that make it hard to see some things clearly. Just like that, there is dust in space too, floating around between stars and galaxies.

This space dust is called intergalactic dust, and it consists of tiny particles of things like carbon, silicon, oxygen, and iron. These particles are really, really small - much smaller than a grain of sand - and they move around in space, sometimes getting stuck together to form bigger particles.

Sometimes intergalactic dust clouds are so thick that they block our view of things behind them, just like how the dust in your room blocks your view of things on your shelves. But some telescopes can see through this dust, allowing us to learn more about what's happening in space, even in areas where there's lots of intergalactic dust.

So, just like how you need to dust your room regularly to keep it clean, scientists study intergalactic dust to learn more about the universe and how it works!