Comet Dust Reveals Unexpected Mixing of Solar System Material

October 24, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Researchers from NAI’s University of Wisconsin, Madison Team are also involved the analysis of comet samples returned from NASA’s Stardust mission.

A new analysis of dust from the comet Wild 2, collected in 2004 by Stardust, has revealed an oxygen isotope signature that suggests an unexpected mingling of rocky material between the center and edges of the solar system. Wisconsin Astrobiololgy Research Consortium (WARC) researchers and their collaborators analyzed oxygen isotopes in crystals of olivine and pyroxene from the comet’s halo. These samples, which reached Earth in early 2006, are the first solid samples returned from space since the Apollo missions.

As documented in their paper in Science, researchers were surprised to find oxygen isotope ratios in the comet crystals that are similar to asteroids and even the sun itself. Because these samples more closely resemble meteorites than the primitive, low-temperature materials expected in the outer reaches of the solar system, their analysis suggests that heat-processed particles may have been transported outward in the young solar system over four billion years ago.

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