Many practical problems in cosmic dust currently beg for a resolution.
Example questions to be addressed:
- Are there very different dusts in remote galaxies than we observe in the local group?
- Is the Cardelli law an adequate parameterisation of dust outside the local group?
- What is the best extinction curve for SNIa observations? What is the scatter? Is a single law even a sensible approach?
- What is the dust dependence on metallicity and UV radiation?
- How quickly can dust form—i.e. are there dusty galaxies in the dark ages and what creates it?
- How does dust affect the formation of Pop II and III stars?
- Is there a transition in the major dust producers?
- What is the origin of the 2175 Å bump—do we have strong observational indicators?
