ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Micrometeorite

Hey kiddo, have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered what all those tiny rocks and pieces of dust flying around are called? Well, some of those tiny rocks are called micrometeorites!

Micrometeorites are really small pieces of space debris that are smaller than 2 millimeters in size. They are usually formed from asteroids, comets, or other space objects that break apart or collide with each other while flying through space.

These little rocks are so small that most of the time they burn up when they pass through the Earth's atmosphere. But sometimes they manage to make it all the way to the ground and land on the Earth's surface.

When they do make it to the ground, scientists can study them to learn more about the history of our solar system. Micrometeorites can tell us where they came from, and scientists can use this information to piece together how our planet and other objects in space formed over time.

So even though they are small, micrometeorites can teach us big things about our universe!