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Updated: Jul 8, 2026
11:34
Scattering And Absorption of Light in Planetary Regoliths
Published on: July 1, 2019
Comparison of comet 81P/Wild 2 dust with interplanetary dust from comets
Hope A Ishii1, John P Bradley, Zu Rong Dai
1Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA. hope.ishii@llnl.gov
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|January 26, 2008
Summary
The Stardust mission
Area of Science:
- Cosmochemistry
- Planetary Science
- Astrophysics
Background:
- The Stardust mission collected samples from comet 81P/Wild 2.
- Cometary dust was expected to resemble chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles.
- These particles are thought to originate from comets.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the composition of comet 81P/Wild 2 samples.
- To compare cometary materials with interplanetary dust particles (IDPs).
- To understand the origin and evolution of solar system materials.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of returned cometary samples from the Stardust mission.
- Petrographic and mineralogical examination of returned materials.
- Comparison with known compositions of chondritic porous IDPs and meteorites.
Main Results:
- Key silicate materials found in chondritic porous IDPs are absent in the comet samples.
- The comet samples are predominantly composed of inner solar nebula materials.
- Cometary material composition resembles that of chondritic meteorites from the asteroid belt.
Conclusions:
- Indigenous outer nebula material is likely rare in comet 81P/Wild 2.
- A petrogenetic continuum exists between comets and asteroids.
- Stratospheric chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles are crucial for studying primitive astromaterials.
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