Key facts
- Category
- Cosmic dust
- Object class
- Carbon-rich cosmic dust grain
- Scale fact
- 30 nmdiameter
Carbonaceous Grain
30 nmdiameter
Visual creditscaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
Details
A carbonaceous grain is a tiny particle of carbon-rich cosmic dust. Grains in this broad family absorb and scatter starlight, changing how dusty clouds and galaxies look while also supplying solid surfaces for chemistry in space.
Dust grains interact strongly with visible light despite their minute size. Carbon-rich grains can obscure objects behind them, redirect starlight, and warm as they absorb radiation before releasing that energy at infrared wavelengths.
Links
- Wikipedia
- Carbonaceous Grain on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Carbonaceous Grain on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, Carbonaceous Grain falls between Nanodiamond and Dust Aggregate. The band uses nearby Cosmic dust records.
Shared physical scale
6.12µm
Sources
References for Carbonaceous Grain
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Carbonaceous Grain — Wikipedia
- Visual: scaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.