Stardust consists of grains of space dust, usually found within meteorites, that are older than our solar system. This substance formed when gases from ancient stars cooled down and then condensed into dust. Perhaps more importantly, though, is that scientists have discovered water within stardust, suggesting that life could exist throughout the Universe.

Astronomers have attempted to create fake stardust in a laboratory before, but now, a team of scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California are studying the real thing. The dust was collected from the Earth’s stratosphere and examined under a microscope.