>Force equals mass times velocity SQUARED: velocity means more to force than mass, so if you have a very high velocity, a very small mass carries a lot of force.

This is kind of the answer I wanted, thank you.

> the fact that hitting a spec of dust at anything near light speed would obliterate the spacecraft,

How is this, though? You can hit a bug going 90 mph and it just splatters on your windshield. A rock flies off your fender etc.

I used an app called Night Sky to find it, but there was too much light pollution. It was near the moon and North Star in my area (midwest).