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Exploring the Solar System

Exploring Asteroids and Comets

Why is it important to explore interplanetary space dust?

The solar system is far more empty than it is full. Even though people pay the most attention to the largest objects in it, the rest of the system should not be neglected. All larger solar system objects were built by smaller ones, and everything started out as dust. So the tiniest particles floating in the solar system may contain some of the best clues about the origin of the solar system and its contents, as well as the solar system environment we live in today. They may even contain clues about other stars in our galaxy and their origins.



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