In the 1990s, scientists discovered weird signals coming from under the light left over from the Big Bang. Now they believe these signals could be caused by spinning grains of cosmic dust. When the signals were first discovered, scientists found a signal that could not be explained in between the normal emissions from charged particles (free-free emission) and spiralling cosmic rays (synchrotron radiation).
At the time, they called this signal anomalous microwave emission, or AME.
While not entirely sure about the cause for the signals, many scientists now believe they are being caused by spinning cosmic dust.
Astrophysicist at Princeton University Bruce Draine said: “I suspect the emission is coming from spinning nanoparticles, but at this point I’d say we’re not 100 percent certain that that’s the emission process.
“It might be some other unknown process involving unexpected emission from these dust grains.”
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Even if scientists assumed that AME comes from nanoparticles, they would still be unsure of what they are made of.
While some speculate they come from rings made of hydrogen and carbon, there is still no strong evidence to support this theory.
Others believe the AME is caused by dust that is primarily made from carbon since the AME signals coming from newborn stars was caused by dust made by tiny, spinning nanodiamonds swirling around them.
However, this theory has also been noted as being challenging to prove since it is still unknown if the nanodiamonds also cause the AME that comes from dusty interstellar regions.
Closer to Earth, scientists believe that by coming to understand the AME’s properties, then it would allow them to more clearly understand interstellar dust in Earth’s galaxy, the Milky Way.
Clive Dickinson is an astrophysicist at the University of Manchester, England as well as the lead author of a new paper about AME.
He explained: “AME, in principle, is a new window into the interstellar medium.
“It has implications for star formation and planet formation.”
Since scientists are trying to learn about AME from Earth it makes it challenging to prove what they really are.
This means scientists will either have to wait for an unambiguous signal, which many scientists see as being unlikely, or they will have to fly into space and collect samples themselves.