Ancient grains of dust from space can be found on Earth—and provide clues about the life cycle of stars

In space, there are clouds that contain gas and dust ejected from stars. Our solar system was formed 4.6 billion years ago from such a molecular cloud. Most of these dust grains were destroyed during solar system formation. However, a very small amount of the grains survived and remained intact in primitive meteorites. They are called presolar grains because they predate the solar system. I am a scientist who studies the early solar system and beyond, focusing mainly on presolar grains.