Number 265 (Story #2), April 5, 1996 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein INTERSTELLAR DUST PARTICLES ENTERING EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE have been detected by astronomers in New Zealand. Their radar scanner not only spots the tiny objects (tens of microns in size) but also determines the meteoroid velocities. Those with speeds of more than 100 km/sec (about 1% of the sample), well above the solar escape velocity of 73 km/sec, are believed to come from other planetary systems. The researchers, furthermore, use the annual variability in the flux of these fast meteoroids to identify several possible discrete extra-solar sources. (A.D. Taylor et al., Nature, 28 March 1996.)