Interstellar Dust in Collected Interplanetary Dust Particles

Interstellar dust. Evidence for interstellar origin of seven dust particles collected by the Stardust spacecraft.

Seven particles captured by the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector and returned to Earth for laboratory analysis have features consistent with an origin in the contemporary interstellar dust stream. More than 50 spacecraft debris particles were also identified. The interstellar dust candidates are readily distinguished from debris impacts on the basis of elemental composition and/or impact tr...

Remarkably high abundance of presolar grains in interplanetary dust particles collected from the comet Grigg-Skjellerup dust stream

Introduction: Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) have been shown to preserve isotopic anomalies, particularly in nitrogen and hydrogen associated with molecular cloud organic material [1-3]. Furthermore, with the heightened capabilities of the NanoSIMS ion microprobe, submicrometer-sized presolar silicate grains have been identified in IDPs [3-6]. Recently, four IDPs collected during the 2003...

Isotopic and Micro-raman Investigation of Interplanetary Dust Particles Collected during 2003 Earth Passage through Comet Grigg-skjellerup Dust

Introduction: In April 2003, NASA flew stratospheric dust collectors to coincide with the expected passage of the Earth through the dust trail of comet Grigg-Skjellerup. Whether any Grigg-Skjellerup particles were collected (along with “normal” Interplanetary Dust Particles or IDPs) and how such would be recognized is still uncertain, though there is evidence for unusual noble gases in some of ...

Isotopic and Micro-Raman investigation of Interplanetary Dust Particles Collected during 2003 Earth passage through Comet Grigg-Skjellerup Dust Stream

Interstellar Dust

In the interstellar medium of the Milky Way, certain elements – e.g., Mg, Si, Al, Ca, Ti, Fe – reside predominantly in interstellar dust grains. These grains absorb, scatter, and emit electromagnetic radiation, heat the interstellar medium by photoelectric emission, play a role in the ionization balance of the gas, and catalyze the formation of molecules, particularly H2. I review the state of ...