Seven tiny grains captured by Stardust likely visitors from interstellar space
Friday, August 15, 2014 - 05:00
in Astronomy & Space
The 1999 Stardust mission flew by comet Wild-2 in 2004, capturing cometary and interstellar dust, and delivered its dust-loaded collectors to Earth in 2006. Scientists now report preliminary results of their eight-year analysis of the interstellar particles: seven dust motes that likely originated in another solar system less than 100 million years ago. The particles are more diverse than expected, and fluffier, like a tossed salad.