Coordinated analysis of Comet 81P/Wild-2 dust samples: Nanoscale measurements of its organic/ inorganic chemical and isotopic composition and optical properties

Details Coordinated analysis of Comet 81P/Wild-2 dust samples: Nanoscale measurements of its organic/ inorganic chemical and isotopic composition and optical properties Coordinated analysis of Comet 81P/Wild-2 dust samples: Nanoscale measurements of its organic/ inorganic chemical and isotopic composition and optical properties

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p51e1238m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P51E-1238

Physics

2129 Interplanetary Dust, 5205 Formation Of Stars And Planets, 6000 Planetary Sciences: Comets And Small Bodies, 6023 Comets: Dust Tails And Trails (6210), 6040 Origin And Evolution

Scientific paper

Dust particles released from comet 81P/Wild-2 were captured in silica aerogel on-board the STARDUST spacecraft and successfully returned to the Earth on January 15, 2006. This is the first sample of extraterrestrial materials returned from beyond the moon. STARDUST recovered thousands of particles ranging in size from 1 to 100 micrometers. The analysis of these samples is complicated by the small total mass collected (< 1 mg), its entrainment in the aerogel collection medium, and the fact that the cometary dust is comprised of submicrometer minerals and carbonaceous material. During the six month preliminary examination period, 75 tracks were extracted from the aerogel cells and 25 cometary grains were fully studied by an international collaboration among 150 scientists who investigated their mineralogy/petrology, organic/inorganic chemistry, optical properties and isotopic compositions. This scientific consortium was made possible by sophisticated sample preparation methods developed for the STARDUST mission and by recent major advances in the sensitivity and spatial resolution of analytical instruments. Coordinated and replicate analyses of the samples were made possible by subdividing individual particles into 50 nm-thick sections by ultramicrotomy, providing up to 100 sections from a 20 um particle. We present results of a coordinated study of comet Wild 2 dust samples in which individual particles were analyzed by FTIR microspectroscopy, field emission scanning-transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and isotopic measurements with a NanoSIMS 50L ion microprobe. The STEM is equipped with a thin window energy- dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometer that was used to acquire spectrum images that contained a high count- rate EDX spectrum in each pixel, enabling the determination of the nm-scale spatial distribution of quantitative element abundances. These samples were later analyzed by the JSC NanoSIMS 50L ion microprobe, which acquired 100 nm spatial resolution C, N, and O isotopic images. This analytical protocol enables direct comparison of the submicrometer chemical and isotopic compositions of the cometary materials.

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