When a star goes supernova in a huge explosion, it can wipe out nearby matter
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The explosion from a supernova should be enough to remove almost all dust from the solar system, and the last time this happened may have been 3 million years ago. However, like furniture dust, these particles are gradually replenished.
The dust we find floating around in space is made up of tiny particles created by events such as asteroid impacts. The particles are typically less than 1 millimeter in size and reach just nanometers in diameter. About 70 percent of the dust in the solar system is…
