Infrared spectroscopy of Wild 2 particle hypervelocity tracks in Stardust aerogel: Evidence for the presence of volatile organics in cometary dust |
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| Authors: | S BAJT S A SANDFORD G J FLYNN G MATRAJT C J SNEAD A J WESTPHAL J P BRADLEY |
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| Institution: | 1. Physics and Advanced Technologies, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550, USA;2. DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany;3. Astrophysics Branch, NASA‐Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA;4. Department of Physics, SUNY, Plattsburgh, New York 12901, USA;5. Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA;6. Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720‐7450, USA;7. Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 E. Ave., Livermore, California 94550, USA |
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| Abstract: | Abstract— Infrared spectroscopy maps of some tracks made by cometary dust from 81P/Wild 2 impacting Stardust aerogel reveal an interesting distribution of organic material. Out of six examined tracks, three show presence of volatile organic components possibly injected into the aerogel during particle impacts. When particle tracks contained volatile organic material, they were found to be ‐CH2‐rich, while the aerogel is dominated by the ‐CH3‐rich contaminant. It is clear that the population of cometary particles impacting the Stardust aerogel collectors also includes grains that contained little or none of this organic component. This observation is consistent with the highly heterogeneous nature of collected grains, as seen by a multitude of other analytical techniques. |
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