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Title: Infrared Spectroscopy of Wild 2 Particle Hypervelocity Tracks in Stardust Aerogel: Evidence for the presence of Volatile Organics in Comet Dust

Abstract

Infrared spectroscopy maps of some tracks, made by cometary dust from 81P/Wild 2 impacting Stardust aerogel, reveal an interesting distribution of volatile 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 excess volatile organic material, they were found to be -CH{sub 2}-rich. Off-normal particle tracks could indicate impacts by lower velocity particles that could have bounced off the Whipple shield, therefore carry off some contamination from it. However, this theory is not supported by data that show excess organic-rich material in normal and off-normal particle tracks. It is clear that the population of cometary particles impacting the Stardust aerogel collectors also include grains that contained little or none of this volatile organic component. This observation is consistent with the highly heterogeneous nature of the collected grains, as seen by a multitude of other analytical techniques. We propose that at least some of the volatile organic material might be of cometary origin based on supporting data shown in this paper. However, we also acknowledge the presence of carbon (primarily as -CH{sub 3}) in the original aerogel, which complicates interpretation of these results.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
965468
Report Number(s):
UCRL-JRNL-234346
TRN: US200919%%588
DOE Contract Number:  
W-7405-ENG-48
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Meteoritical & Planetary Science, vol. 44, no. 4, April 1, 2009, pp. 471-484
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 44; Journal Issue: 4
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS; CARBON; COMETS; CONTAMINATION; DISTRIBUTION; DUSTS; ORIGIN; PARTICLE TRACKS; SPECTROSCOPY; VELOCITY

Citation Formats

Bajt, S, Sandford, S A, Flynn, G J, Matrajt, G, Snead, C J, Westphal, A J, and Bradley, J P. Infrared Spectroscopy of Wild 2 Particle Hypervelocity Tracks in Stardust Aerogel: Evidence for the presence of Volatile Organics in Comet Dust. United States: N. p., 2007. Web.
Bajt, S, Sandford, S A, Flynn, G J, Matrajt, G, Snead, C J, Westphal, A J, & Bradley, J P. Infrared Spectroscopy of Wild 2 Particle Hypervelocity Tracks in Stardust Aerogel: Evidence for the presence of Volatile Organics in Comet Dust. United States.
Bajt, S, Sandford, S A, Flynn, G J, Matrajt, G, Snead, C J, Westphal, A J, and Bradley, J P. 2007. "Infrared Spectroscopy of Wild 2 Particle Hypervelocity Tracks in Stardust Aerogel: Evidence for the presence of Volatile Organics in Comet Dust". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/965468.
@article{osti_965468,
title = {Infrared Spectroscopy of Wild 2 Particle Hypervelocity Tracks in Stardust Aerogel: Evidence for the presence of Volatile Organics in Comet Dust},
author = {Bajt, S and Sandford, S A and Flynn, G J and Matrajt, G and Snead, C J and Westphal, A J and Bradley, J P},
abstractNote = {Infrared spectroscopy maps of some tracks, made by cometary dust from 81P/Wild 2 impacting Stardust aerogel, reveal an interesting distribution of volatile 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 excess volatile organic material, they were found to be -CH{sub 2}-rich. Off-normal particle tracks could indicate impacts by lower velocity particles that could have bounced off the Whipple shield, therefore carry off some contamination from it. However, this theory is not supported by data that show excess organic-rich material in normal and off-normal particle tracks. It is clear that the population of cometary particles impacting the Stardust aerogel collectors also include grains that contained little or none of this volatile organic component. This observation is consistent with the highly heterogeneous nature of the collected grains, as seen by a multitude of other analytical techniques. We propose that at least some of the volatile organic material might be of cometary origin based on supporting data shown in this paper. However, we also acknowledge the presence of carbon (primarily as -CH{sub 3}) in the original aerogel, which complicates interpretation of these results.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/965468}, journal = {Meteoritical & Planetary Science, vol. 44, no. 4, April 1, 2009, pp. 471-484},
number = 4,
volume = 44,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Aug 28 00:00:00 EDT 2007},
month = {Tue Aug 28 00:00:00 EDT 2007}
}