stardust Archives - Astrobiology

Map of N × ρ for H2O in 81P on March 20 with MRS

Comets and Asteroids

A JWST Study of Stardust. I. Infrared Spectroscopy of Comet 81P/Wild 2 and Overall Composition

by Keith CowingAugust 4, 2026August 4, 2026

[astro-ph.EP] We report observations of comet 81P/Wild 2, target of the Stardust sample return mission, on UT 2023 March 20 and 24 at a heliocentric distance (rH) of 1.85 au […]

Orbit-integrated water sublimation of 81P facets. The left and right figures preferentially show the explored northern and the unexplored southern side, respectively. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Status Report

Enlargement of Depressions on Comet 81P/Wild 2: Constraint Based on 30-year Cometary Activity in the Inner Solar System

by Keith CowingDecember 18, 2024December 18, 2024

Context. The Stardust flyby mission to Jupiter-family comet (JFC) 81P/Wild 2 (hereafter, 81P) captured its dense quasicircular depressions. Nevertheless, the formation mechanism remains a subject of ongoing debate.

Carbon to silicon atom ratios in comets and other objects, from Woodward et al. (2021). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

Comet 81P/Wild 2: A Record of the Solar System’s Wild Youth

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2023December 2, 2023

NASA’s Stardust mission returned rocky material from the coma of comet 81P/Wild 2 (pronounced “Vilt 2”) to Earth for laboratory study on January 15, 2006. Comet Wild 2 contains volatile […]

Digital photograph of Keystone 152 on its fork. Scale in mm. Image courtesy D. Frank, JSC. Inset: Schematic of new acrylic sample mount. -- astro-ph.EP

Comets and Asteroids, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy of Comet Material in Aerogel

by Keith CowingAugust 15, 2023August 15, 2023

We report non-destructive 3-dimensional imaging and analysis techniques for material returned by the Stardust cometary collector.

Compositions of olivine in primitive solar system materials. Panel "a" shows detail in the dashed rectangle of panel "b". Reported MnO contents of meteoritic and IDP olivines are plotted as a function of wt% FeO, where mole fractions tephroite (XTep) and fayalite (XFa) are nearly equal to wt% MnO/100 and wt% FeO/100, respectively, at the low XTep and XFa of "a". Long dashed lines indicate constant wt% FeO/MnO ratios. Data are from Klöck et al. (1989, their Table 1 and Fig. 1), Weisberg et al. (1995, their Fig. 6; 2004), Zolensky et al. (2006, their Fig. S2b), Rubin (1984, his Table 2, px: pyroxene, ol: olivine), Steele (1990, his Tables 1,3), Sugiura et al. (2009, their Table 1), and Nakamura et al. (2008, their Table S1). Matrix olivines in “a” are from CM2 chondrites (E: EET83226, and M: Murchison; inverted triangles) and Orgueil (CI; open rectangles). Two populations of Semarkona (LL3.0) matrix olivines (open circles) are FeO-rich, in “a”, and MnO-rich, in “b” (Klöck et al. 1989). Core and MnO-rich rim analyses of olivine from two AOAs (Sugiura et al. 2009) are indicated. The dotted line in "a" indicates the condensation trend for a vapor of solar composition at Ptot = 10-4 bar, with equipartition of Mn between pyroxenes and olivine (see Fig. 3). --- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Thermochemical Stability of Low-Iron, Manganese-Enriched Olivine in Astrophysical Environments

by Keith CowingJuly 5, 2023December 2, 2023

Low-iron, manganese-enriched (LIME) olivine grains are found in cometary samples returned by the Stardust mission to comet 81P/Wild 2. Similar grains are found in primitive meteoritic clasts and unequilibrated meteorite […]

representation

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Representation Of S-process Abundances For Comparison To Data From Bulk Meteorites

by Keith CowingMarch 3, 2023March 3, 2023

Analysis of bulk meteorite compositions has revealed small isotopic variations due to the presence of material (e.g., stardust) that preserved the signature of nuclear reactions occurring in specific stellar sites. […]

Meteorites contain a large variety of nucleobases, an essential building block of DNA. (Artist concept credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith)

Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

NASA Research Shows DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space

by Keith CowingAugust 9, 2011April 13, 2024

NASA-funded researchers have found more evidence meteorites can carry DNA components created in space.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return

3/29 NAI Director’s Seminar: Don Brownlee, "Comets and the Early Solar System – Results from the Stardust Comet Sample Return Mission"

by Keith CowingMarch 30, 2010April 22, 2024

Stardust Comet Sample Return Mission” Join us for the next NAI Director’s Seminar! Date/Time: Monday, March 29, 2010 11:00AM PacificSpeaker: Don Brownlee (University of Washington), PI of Stardust MissionTitle: “Comets […]

Stardust Sample Return

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Sample Return

Stardust Preliminary Findings: NASA Astrophysicist Scott Sandford (Transcript and Podcast)

by Keith CowingApril 4, 2007June 23, 2024

Jesse Carpenter: NASA study finds new kind of organics in Stardust mission samples. Hi, I’m Jesse Carpenter and you’re listening to a podcast presented in three parts from the NASA […]