Evidence for interstellar origin of seven dust particles collected by the Stardust spacecraft
Abstract
NASA's Stardust spacecraft has been collecting cosmic dust: Aerogel tiles and aluminum foil sat for nearly 200 days in the interstellar dust stream before returning to Earth. Citizen scientists identified most of the 71 tracks where particles were caught in the aerogel, and scanning electron microscopy revealed 25 craterlike features where particles punched through the foil. By performing trajectory and composition analysis, Westphal et al. report that seven of the particles may have an interstellar origin. These dust particles have surprisingly diverse mineral content and structure as compared with models of interstellar dust based on previous astronomical observations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Aug 15, 2014
- Source ID
- 10.1126/science.1252496
Entities
People
- 30714 Stardust@home Dusters
- Alexandre S. Simionovici
- Andrew J. Westphal
- Andrew M. Davis
- Anna L. Butterworth
- Anton Kearsley
- Ariel Leonard
- Ashley J. King
- Asna Ansari
- Barry Lai
- Bart Vekemans
- Bruce Hudson
- Carlton Allen
- Christine Floss
- D. B. Anderson
- Daniel Zevin
- David R. Frank
- Donald E. Brownlee
- Eberhard Grün
- Frank E. Brenker
- Frank Postberg
- Frank Stadermann
- Geert Silversmit
- George J. Flynn
- Hans A. Bechtel
- Hitesh Changela
- Hugues Leroux
- Jan Leitner
- Joachim Huth
- John Bridges
- Jon K. Hillier
- Joshua Von Korff
- Juan-angel Sans Tresseras
- Julien Stodolna
- Kate Schreiber
- Larry R. Nittler
- Laszlo Vincze
- Laurence Lemelle
- Manfred Burghammer
- Mario Trieloff
- Mark Burchell
- Mark C. Price
- Michael E. Zolensky
- Nabil Bassim
- Naomi Wordsworth
- Peter Cloetens
- Peter Hoppe
- Peter Tsou
- Philipp R. Heck
- Ralf Srama
- Rhonda Stroud
- Robert Lettieri
- Ron K. Bastien
- Ryan Doll
- Ryan Ogliore
- Saša Bajt
- Scott A. Sandford
- Stephen Sutton
- Sylvia Schmitz
- Thomas Stephan
- Tolek Tyliszczak
- Tom Schoonjans
- Veerle J. Sterken
- Vicente A. Solé
- Wei Jia Ong
- William Marchant
- Zack Gainsforth
Organizations
- Advanced Light Source
- Ames Research Center
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Carnegie Institution for Science
- DESY
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
- Field Museum of Natural History
- Ghent University
- Goethe University Frankfurt
- Heidelberg University
- Institut des Sciences de la Terre
- Jacobs Engineering Group
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Lille University of Science and Technology
- Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
- Max Planck Society
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Natural History Museum, London
- State University of New York at Plattsburgh
- TU Braunschweig
- United States Naval Research Laboratory
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Chicago
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
- University of Kent
- University of Leicester
- University of New Mexico
- University of Stuttgart
- University of Washington
- Washington University in St. Louis
- École Normale Supérieure de Lyon