Dust Crystal at 40,000 K

The bottom side of the outer shell of a “Coulomb ball,” a formation of dust particles that keep to a crystal-like structure even in the middle of a plasma where the electron temperature is 40,000 K. The particle positions are marked by dots. The number of neighboring particles is indicated by the colored cells (5=blue, 6=green, 7=red) . To form a spherical surface with a regular close packing of particles mainly hexagons (green) and a few pentagons (blue) are needed. This is the same principle as covering a soccer ball with hexagon and pentagon leather patches.

Reported by: Arp et al., Physical Review Letters, 15 October 2004

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