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Comet 81P/Wild 2 Under a Microscope

Don E. Brownlee, P. Tsou, J. Aléon, C. M. O'd. Alexander, Tohru Araki, S. Bajt, G. A. Baratta, Ron S. Bastien, P. A. Bland, P. Bleuet, Janet Borg, J. P. Bradley, Adrian J. BREARLEY, Frank E. Brenker, Sean M. Brennan, J. C. Bridges, Nigel D. Browning, J. R. Brucato, E. S. Bullock, Mark J. Burchell, H. Busemann, Anna L. Butterworth, Marc Chaussidon, Allan R. Cheuvront, Miaofang Chi, M. J. Cintala, B. C. Clark, S. J. Clemett, George D. Cody, Luigi Colangeli, George Cooper, Patrick Cordier, Charles P. Daghlian, Zurong R. Dai, Louis Le Sergeant d’Hendecourt, Zahia Djouadi, Gerardo Dominguez, Tom C. Duxbury, Jason P. Dworkin, Denton S. EBEL, Thanasis E. Economou, Sirine C. Fakra, Sam A. J. Fairey, Stewart Fallon, G. Ferrini, T. Ferroir, Holger Fleckenstein, Christine Floss, George Flynn, I. A. Franchi, Marc D. Fries, Z. Gainsforth, J.-P. Gallien, Matt Genge, Mary K. Gilles, P. Gillet, Jamie D. Gilmour, Daniel P. GLAVIN, Matthieu Gounelle, M. M. Grady, Giles A. Graham, Patrick G. Grant, Simon Green, F. Grossemy, Lawrence K. Grossman, J. N. Grossman, Yunbin Guan, Kenji Hagiya, Ralph P. HARVEY, P. R. Heck, Gregory F. HERZOG, P. Höppe, Friedrich Hörz, J. Huth, I. D. Hutcheon, Konstantin Ignatyev, Hope A. Ishii, Motoo Ito, Damien Jacob, Chris J. Jacobsen, S. B. Jacobsen, Steven Jones, David J. Joswiak, A. J. G. Jurewicz, A. T. Kearsley, L. P. Keller, H. Khodja, A. L. D. Kilcoyne, J. Kissel, Alexander N. Krot, F. Langenhorst, Antonio Lanzirotti, L. Le, Laurie A. Leshin, Jan Leitner, Laurence Lemelle, Hugues Leroux, Ming‐Chang Liu, Katharina Luening, Ian C. Lyon, Glen MacPherson, Matthew A. Marcus, K. K. Marhas, Bernard M Marty, Graciela MATRAJT, Kevin D McKeegan, Anders Meibom, V. Mennella, Keiko Messenger, S. Messenger, T. Mikouchi, Smail Mostefaoui, Tomoki Nakamura, Tsukasa Nakano, Matthew G. Newville, Larry R Nittler, Ichiro Ohnishi, K. Ohsumi, Kyoko Okudaira, Dimitri A. Papanastassiou, R. L. Palma, Maria Elisabetta Palumbo, Robert O. Pepin, David Perkins, M. Perronnet, P. Pianetta, William Rao, Frans J. M. Rietmeijer, François Robert, D. Rost, A. Rotundi, Robert Ryan, Scott A. Sandford, C. S. Schwandt, Thomas H. See, Dennis J. Schlutter, J Sheffield-Parker, Alexandre Simionovici, Steven B. Simon, I. Sitnitsky, Christopher J. Snead, Maegan K. Spencer, Frank J. Stadermann, Andrew Steele, T. Stephan, R. M. Stroud, Jean Susini, S. R. Sutton, Yoshio Suzuki, Mitra L. Taheri, Susan M. Taylor, Nick E. Teslich, K. Tomeoka, Naotaka Tomioka, Alice Toppani, Josep Maria Trigo-Rodríguez, David Troadec, Akira Tsuchiyama, Anthony J. Tuzzolino, Tolek Tyliszczak, Kentaro Uesugi, Michael Anthony Velbel, Joe Vellenga, Edward P. Vicenzi, László Vincze, Jack L. Warren, I. Weber, M. Weisberg, Andrew J Westphal, S. Wirick, Diane H. Wooden, Brigitte Wopenka, P. J. Wozniakiewicz, I. P. Wright, Hikaru Yabuta, Hajime Yano, Edward Young, Richard N. Zare, Thomas J. Zega, K. Ziegler, Laurent Zimmerman, ERNST K. ZINNER, MICHAEL E. ZOLENSKY

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Abstract

The Stardust spacecraft collected thousands of particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for laboratory study. The preliminary examination of these samples shows that the nonvolatile portion of the comet is an unequilibrated assortment of materials that have both presolar and solar system origin. The comet contains an abundance of silicate grains that are much larger than predictions of interstellar grain models, and many of these are high-temperature minerals that appear to have formed in the inner regions of the solar nebula. Their presence in a comet proves that the formation of the solar system included mixing on the grandest scales.

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What this paper is about

The Stardust spacecraft collected thousands of particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for laboratory study. The preliminary examination of these samples shows that the nonvolatile portion of the comet is an unequilibrated assortment of materials that have both presolar and solar system origin. The comet contains an abundance of silicate grains that are much larger than predictions of interstellar grain models, and many of these are high-temperature minerals that appear to have formed in the inner regions of the solar nebula. Their presence in a comet proves that the formation of the solar system included mixing on the grandest scales.

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Available abstract

The Stardust spacecraft collected thousands of particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for laboratory study. The preliminary examination of these samples shows that the nonvolatile portion of the comet is an unequilibrated assortment of materials that have both presolar and solar system origin. The comet contains an abundance of silicate grains that are much larger than predictions of interstellar grain models, and many of these are high-temperature minerals that appear to have formed in the inner regions of the solar nebula. Their presence in a comet proves that the formation of the solar system included mixing on the grandest scales.

Key concepts: Comet, Formation and evolution of the Solar System, Solar System, Astrobiology, Silicate, Comet dust, Meteorite, Presolar grains

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