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Comet 81P/Wild 2 under a
microscope.
Brownlee D., Tsou P., Aléon J., Alexander C. M.
O'D., Araki T., Bajt S., Baratta G. A., Bastien R., Bland
P., Bleuet P., Bort J., Bradley J. P., Brearley A., Brenker
F., Brennan S., Bridges J. C., Browning N. D., Brucato J.
R., Brucato H., Bullock E., Burchell M. J., Busemann H.,
Butterworth A., Chaussidon M., Cheuvront A., Chi M., Cintala
M. J., Clark B. C., Clemett S. J., Cody G., Colangeli L.,
Cooper G., Cordier P., Daghlian C., Dai Z., D'Hendecourt L.,
Djouadi Z., Dominguez G., Duxbury T., Dworkin J. P., Ebel D.
S., Economou T. E., Fakra S., Fairey S. A. J., Fallon S.,
Ferrini G., Ferroir T., Fleckenstein H., Floss C., Flynn G.,
Franchi I. A., Fries M., Gainsforth Z., Gallien J.-P., Genge
M., Gilles M. K., Gillet P., Gilmour J., Glavin D. P.,
Gounelle M., Grady M. M., Graham G. A., Grant P. G., Green
S. F., Grossemy F., Grossman L., Grossman J. N., Guan Y.,
Hagiya K., Harvey R., Heck P., Herzog G. F., Hoppe P.,
Hörz F., Huth J., Hutcheon I. D., Ignatyev K., Ishii
H., Ito M., Jacob D., Jacobsen C., Jacobsen S., Jones S.,
Joswiak D., Jurewicz A., Kearsley A. T., Keller L. P.,
Khodja J., Kilcoyne A. L. D., Kissel J., Krot A.,
Langenhorst F., Lanzirotti A., Le L., Leshin L. A., Leitner
J., Lemelle L., Leroux H., Liu M.-C., Luening K., Lyon I.,
MacPherson G., Marcus M. A., Marhas K., Marty B., Matrajt
G., McKeegan K., Meibom A., Mennella V., Messenger K.,
Messenger S., Mikouchi T., Mostefaoui S., Nakamura T.,
Nakano T., Newville M., Nittler L. R., Ohnishi I., Ohsumi
K., Okudaira K., Papanastassiou D. A., Palma R., Palumbo M.
E., Pepin R. O., Perkins D., Perronnet M., Pianetta P., Rao
W., Rietmeijer F. J. M., Robert F., Rost D., Rotundi A.,
Ryan R., Sandford S. A., Schwandt C. S., See T. H.,
Schlutter D., Sheffield-Parker J., Simionovici A., Simon S.,
Sitnitsky I., Snead C. J., Spencer M. K., Stadermann F. J.,
Steele A., Stephan T., Stroud R., Susini J., Sutton S. R.,
Taheri M., Taylor S., Teslich N., Tomeoka K., Tomioka N.,
Toppani A., Trigo-Rodriguez J. M., Troadec D., Tsuchiyama
A., Tuzolino A. J., Tyliszczak T., Uesugi K., Velbel M.,
Vellenga J., Vicenzi E., Vincze L., Warren J., Weber I.,
Weisberg M., Westphal A. J., Wirick S., Wooden D., Wopenka
B., Wozniakiewicz P., Wright I., Yabuta H., Yano H., Young
E. D., Zare R. N., Zega T., Ziegler K., Zimmermann L.,
Zinner E., and Zolensky M. (2006)
Science 314, 1711-1716.
doi:10.1126/science.1135840
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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