ALBERT

Description: Organics are a significant component of most cosmic dust, as revealed from actual samples of extraterrestrial dust in the Earth's stratosphere, in Antarctic ice and snow, in near-Earth orbit, and in asteroids and comets. Cosmic dust contains a diverse population of organic materials that owe their origins to a variety of chemical processes occurring in many different environments. The presence of isotopic enrichments of D and 15 N suggests that many of these organic materials have an interstellar or protosolar heritage. The study of these samples is of considerable importance because they are the best preserved materials of the early Solar System available.

Description: The Stardust spacecraft collected thousands of particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for laboratory study. The preliminary examination of these samples shows that the nonvolatile portion of the comet is an unequilibrated assortment of materials that have both presolar and solar system origin. The comet contains an abundance of silicate grains that are much larger than predictions of interstellar grain models, and many of these are high-temperature minerals that appear to have formed in the inner regions of the solar nebula. Their presence in a comet proves that the formation of the solar system included mixing on the grandest scales.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Brownlee, Don -- Tsou, Peter -- Aleon, Jerome -- Alexander, Conel M O'd -- Araki, Tohru -- Bajt, Sasa -- Baratta, Giuseppe A -- Bastien, Ron -- Bland, Phil -- Bleuet, Pierre -- Borg, Janet -- Bradley, John P -- Brearley, Adrian -- Brenker, F -- Brennan, Sean -- Bridges, John C -- Browning, Nigel D -- Brucato, John R -- Bullock, E -- Burchell, Mark J -- Busemann, Henner -- Butterworth, Anna -- Chaussidon, Marc -- Cheuvront, Allan -- Chi, Miaofang -- Cintala, Mark J -- Clark, B C -- Clemett, Simon J -- Cody, George -- Colangeli, Luigi -- Cooper, George -- Cordier, Patrick -- Daghlian, C -- Dai, Zurong -- D'Hendecourt, Louis -- Djouadi, Zahia -- Dominguez, Gerardo -- Duxbury, Tom -- Dworkin, Jason P -- Ebel, Denton S -- Economou, Thanasis E -- Fakra, Sirine -- Fairey, Sam A J -- Fallon, Stewart -- Ferrini, Gianluca -- Ferroir, T -- Fleckenstein, Holger -- Floss, Christine -- Flynn, George -- Franchi, Ian A -- Fries, Marc -- Gainsforth, Z -- Gallien, J-P -- Genge, Matt -- Gilles, Mary K -- Gillet, Philipe -- Gilmour, Jamie -- Glavin, Daniel P -- Gounelle, Matthieu -- Grady, Monica M -- Graham, Giles A -- Grant, P G -- Green, Simon F -- Grossemy, Faustine -- Grossman, Lawrence -- Grossman, Jeffrey N -- Guan, Yunbin -- Hagiya, Kenji -- Harvey, Ralph -- Heck, Philipp -- Herzog, Gregory F -- Hoppe, Peter -- Horz, Friedrich -- Huth, Joachim -- Hutcheon, Ian D -- Ignatyev, Konstantin -- Ishii, Hope -- Ito, Motoo -- Jacob, Damien -- Jacobsen, Chris -- Jacobsen, Stein -- Jones, Steven -- Joswiak, David -- Jurewicz, Amy -- Kearsley, Anton T -- Keller, Lindsay P -- Khodja, H -- Kilcoyne, A L David -- Kissel, Jochen -- Krot, Alexander -- Langenhorst, Falko -- Lanzirotti, Antonio -- Le, Loan -- Leshin, Laurie A -- Leitner, J -- Lemelle, L -- Leroux, Hugues -- Liu, Ming-Chang -- Luening, K -- Lyon, Ian -- Macpherson, Glen -- Marcus, Matthew A -- Marhas, Kuljeet -- Marty, Bernard -- Matrajt, Graciela -- McKeegan, Kevin -- Meibom, Anders -- Mennella, Vito -- Messenger, Keiko -- Messenger, Scott -- Mikouchi, Takashi -- Mostefaoui, Smail -- Nakamura, Tomoki -- Nakano, T -- Newville, M -- Nittler, Larry R -- Ohnishi, Ichiro -- Ohsumi, Kazumasa -- Okudaira, Kyoko -- Papanastassiou, Dimitri A -- Palma, Russ -- Palumbo, Maria E -- Pepin, Robert O -- Perkins, David -- Perronnet, Murielle -- Pianetta, P -- Rao, William -- Rietmeijer, Frans J M -- Robert, Francois -- Rost, D -- Rotundi, Alessandra -- Ryan, Robert -- Sandford, Scott A -- Schwandt, Craig S -- See, Thomas H -- Schlutter, Dennis -- Sheffield-Parker, J -- Simionovici, Alexandre -- Simon, Steven -- Sitnitsky, I -- Snead, Christopher J -- Spencer, Maegan K -- Stadermann, Frank J -- Steele, Andrew -- Stephan, Thomas -- Stroud, Rhonda -- Susini, Jean -- Sutton, S R -- Suzuki, Y -- Taheri, Mitra -- Taylor, Susan -- Teslich, Nick -- Tomeoka, Kazu -- Tomioka, Naotaka -- Toppani, Alice -- Trigo-Rodriguez, Josep M -- Troadec, David -- Tsuchiyama, Akira -- Tuzzolino, Anthony J -- Tyliszczak, Tolek -- Uesugi, K -- Velbel, Michael -- Vellenga, Joe -- Vicenzi, E -- Vincze, L -- Warren, Jack -- Weber, Iris -- Weisberg, Mike -- Westphal, Andrew J -- Wirick, Sue -- Wooden, Diane -- Wopenka, Brigitte -- Wozniakiewicz, Penelope -- Wright, Ian -- Yabuta, Hikaru -- Yano, Hajime -- Young, Edward D -- Zare, Richard N -- Zega, Thomas -- Ziegler, Karen -- Zimmerman, Laurent -- Zinner, Ernst -- Zolensky, Michael -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2006 Dec 15;314(5806):1711-6.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. brownlee@astro.washington.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170289" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Organics found in comet 81P/Wild 2 samples show a heterogeneous and unequilibrated distribution in abundance and composition. Some organics are similar, but not identical, to those in interplanetary dust particles and carbonaceous meteorites. A class of aromatic-poor organic material is also present. The organics are rich in oxygen and nitrogen compared with meteoritic organics. Aromatic compounds are present, but the samples tend to be relatively poorer in aromatics than are meteorites and interplanetary dust particles. The presence of deuterium and nitrogen-15 excesses suggest that some organics have an interstellar/protostellar heritage. Although the variable extent of modification of these materials by impact capture is not yet fully constrained, a diverse suite of organic compounds is present and identifiable within the returned samples.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sandford, Scott A -- Aleon, Jerome -- Alexander, Conel M O'd -- Araki, Tohru -- Bajt, Sasa -- Baratta, Giuseppe A -- Borg, Janet -- Bradley, John P -- Brownlee, Donald E -- Brucato, John R -- Burchell, Mark J -- Busemann, Henner -- Butterworth, Anna -- Clemett, Simon J -- Cody, George -- Colangeli, Luigi -- Cooper, George -- D'Hendecourt, Louis -- Djouadi, Zahia -- Dworkin, Jason P -- Ferrini, Gianluca -- Fleckenstein, Holger -- Flynn, George J -- Franchi, Ian A -- Fries, Marc -- Gilles, Mary K -- Glavin, Daniel P -- Gounelle, Matthieu -- Grossemy, Faustine -- Jacobsen, Chris -- Keller, Lindsay P -- Kilcoyne, A L David -- Leitner, Jan -- Matrajt, Graciela -- Meibom, Anders -- Mennella, Vito -- Mostefaoui, Smail -- Nittler, Larry R -- Palumbo, Maria E -- Papanastassiou, Dimitri A -- Robert, Francois -- Rotundi, Alessandra -- Snead, Christopher J -- Spencer, Maegan K -- Stadermann, Frank J -- Steele, Andrew -- Stephan, Thomas -- Tsou, Peter -- Tyliszczak, Tolek -- Westphal, Andrew J -- Wirick, Sue -- Wopenka, Brigitte -- Yabuta, Hikaru -- Zare, Richard N -- Zolensky, Michael E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2006 Dec 15;314(5806):1720-4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Astrophysics Branch, NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. ssandford@mail.arc.nasa.gov〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170291" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Infrared spectra of material captured from comet 81P/Wild 2 by the Stardust spacecraft reveal indigenous aliphatic hydrocarbons similar to those in interplanetary dust particles thought to be derived from comets, but with longer chain lengths than those observed in the diffuse interstellar medium. Similarly, the Stardust samples contain abundant amorphous silicates in addition to crystalline silicates such as olivine and pyroxene. The presence of crystalline silicates in Wild 2 is consistent with mixing of solar system and interstellar matter. No hydrous silicates or carbonate minerals were detected, which suggests a lack of aqueous processing of Wild 2 dust.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Keller, Lindsay P -- Bajt, Sasa -- Baratta, Giuseppe A -- Borg, Janet -- Bradley, John P -- Brownlee, Don E -- Busemann, Henner -- Brucato, John R -- Burchell, Mark -- Colangeli, Luigi -- d'Hendecourt, Louis -- Djouadi, Zahia -- Ferrini, Gianluca -- Flynn, George -- Franchi, Ian A -- Fries, Marc -- Grady, Monica M -- Graham, Giles A -- Grossemy, Faustine -- Kearsley, Anton -- Matrajt, Graciela -- Nakamura-Messenger, Keiko -- Mennella, Vito -- Nittler, Larry -- Palumbo, Maria E -- Stadermann, Frank J -- Tsou, Peter -- Rotundi, Alessandra -- Sandford, Scott A -- Snead, Christopher -- Steele, Andrew -- Wooden, Diane -- Zolensky, Mike -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2006 Dec 15;314(5806):1728-31.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate, Mail Code KR, NASA-Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA. lindsay.p.keller@nasa.gov〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170293" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Critical measurements for understanding accretion and the dust/gas ratio in the solar nebula, where planets were forming 4.5 billion years ago, are being obtained by the GIADA (Grain Impact Analyser and Dust Accumulator) experiment on the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Between 3.6 and 3.4 astronomical units inbound, GIADA and OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) detected 35 outflowing grains of mass 10(-10) to 10(-7) kilograms, and 48 grains of mass 10(-5) to 10(-2) kilograms, respectively. Combined with gas data from the MIRO (Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter) and ROSINA (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis) instruments, we find a dust/gas mass ratio of 4 +/- 2 averaged over the sunlit nucleus surface. A cloud of larger grains also encircles the nucleus in bound orbits from the previous perihelion. The largest orbiting clumps are meter-sized, confirming the dust/gas ratio of 3 inferred at perihelion from models of dust comae and trails.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Rotundi, Alessandra -- Sierks, Holger -- Della Corte, Vincenzo -- Fulle, Marco -- Gutierrez, Pedro J -- Lara, Luisa -- Barbieri, Cesare -- Lamy, Philippe L -- Rodrigo, Rafael -- Koschny, Detlef -- Rickman, Hans -- Keller, Horst Uwe -- Lopez-Moreno, Jose J -- Accolla, Mario -- Agarwal, Jessica -- A'Hearn, Michael F -- Altobelli, Nicolas -- Angrilli, Francesco -- Barucci, M Antonietta -- Bertaux, Jean-Loup -- Bertini, Ivano -- Bodewits, Dennis -- Bussoletti, Ezio -- Colangeli, Luigi -- Cosi, Massimo -- Cremonese, Gabriele -- Crifo, Jean-Francois -- Da Deppo, Vania -- Davidsson, Bjorn -- Debei, Stefano -- De Cecco, Mariolino -- Esposito, Francesca -- Ferrari, Marco -- Fornasier, Sonia -- Giovane, Frank -- Gustafson, Bo -- Green, Simon F -- Groussin, Olivier -- Grun, Eberhard -- Guttler, Carsten -- Herranz, Miguel L -- Hviid, Stubbe F -- Ip, Wing -- Ivanovski, Stavro -- Jeronimo, Jose M -- Jorda, Laurent -- Knollenberg, Joerg -- Kramm, Rainer -- Kuhrt, Ekkehard -- Kuppers, Michael -- Lazzarin, Monica -- Leese, Mark R -- Lopez-Jimenez, Antonio C -- Lucarelli, Francesca -- Lowry, Stephen C -- Marzari, Francesco -- Epifani, Elena Mazzotta -- McDonnell, J Anthony M -- Mennella, Vito -- Michalik, Harald -- Molina, Antonio -- Morales, Rafael -- Moreno, Fernando -- Mottola, Stefano -- Naletto, Giampiero -- Oklay, Nilda -- Ortiz, Jose L -- Palomba, Ernesto -- Palumbo, Pasquale -- Perrin, Jean-Marie -- Rodriguez, Julio -- Sabau, Lola -- Snodgrass, Colin -- Sordini, Roberto -- Thomas, Nicolas -- Tubiana, Cecilia -- Vincent, Jean-Baptiste -- Weissman, Paul -- Wenzel, Klaus-Peter -- Zakharov, Vladimir -- Zarnecki, John C -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 23;347(6220):aaa3905. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa3905.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Via Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, 0133 Rome, Italy. Universita degli Studi di Napoli "Parthenope," Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie, CDN IC4, 80143 Naples, Italy. rotundi@uniparthenope.it. ; Max-Planck-Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg, 3, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. ; Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Via Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, 0133 Rome, Italy. ; Osservatorio Astronomico, INAF, Via Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy. ; Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), P.O. Box 3008, 18080 Granada, Spain. ; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Padova University, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova, Italy. ; Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, UMR 7326, CNRS and Aix-Marseille Universite, 13388 Marseille, France. ; Centro de Astrobiologia (Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aerospacial-CSIC), 28691 Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, Spain. International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Scientific Support Office, European Space Agency, 2201 Noordwijk, Netherlands. ; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 75120 Uppsala, Sweden. Polish Academy of Sciences Space Research Center, Bartycka 18A, PL-00716 Warszawa, Poland. ; Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics, Technische Universitat Braunschweig, Braunschweig 38106, Germany. ; Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Via Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, 0133 Rome, Italy. Universita degli Studi di Napoli "Parthenope," Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie, CDN IC4, 80143 Naples, Italy. ; Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421, USA. ; European Space Agency (ESA)-European Space Astronomy Center (ESAC), Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n, 28692 Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, Spagna. ; Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Padova, via Venezia 1, 35131 Padova, Italy. ; Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Universite Paris 06, Universite Paris-Diderot, 5 place Johannes Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France. ; Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, CNRS/Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines/Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, 11 boulevard d'Alembert, 78280 Guyancourt, France. ; University of Padova, Centro Interdipartimentale di Studi e Attivita Spaziali (CISAS), via Venezia 15, 35100 Padova, Italy. ; Universita degli Studi di Napoli "Parthenope," Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie, CDN IC4, 80143 Naples, Italy. ; ESA, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, Netherlands. ; Selex-ES, Via Albert Einstein, 35, 50013 Campi Bisenzio, Firenze, Italy. ; Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, INAF, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy. ; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie-Unita Operativa di Supporto Padova LUXOR, via Trasea 7, 35131 Padova, Italy. ; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 75120 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Universita di Trento, via Mesiano, 77, 38100 Trento, Italy. ; Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, INAF, Salita Moiariello, 16, 80133 Naples, Italy. ; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. ; Planetary and Space Sciences, Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. ; Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. ; Institute of Planetary Research, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany. ; Institute for Space Science, National Central University, 300 Chung Da Road, 32054 Chung-Li, Taiwan. ; The University of Kent, School of Physical Sciences, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NZ, UK. ; Department of Physics, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy. ; Planetary and Space Sciences, Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. The University of Kent, School of Physical Sciences, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NZ, UK. Unispacekent, Canterbury CT2 8EF, UK. ; Institut fur Datentechnik und Kommunikationsnetze, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany. ; Departamento de Fisica Aplicada, Universidad de Granada, Facultad de Ciencias, Avenida Severo Ochoa, s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain. ; Department of Information Engineering, Padova University, via Gradenigo 6, 35131 Padova, Italy. ; Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, CNRS/Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines/Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, 11 boulevard d'Alembert, 78280 Guyancourt, France. Observatoire de Haute Provence OSU Pytheas UMS 2244 CNRS-AMU, 04870 Saint Michel l'Observatoire, France. ; Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial, Carretera de Ajalvir, p.k. 4, 28850 Torrejon de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain. ; Max-Planck-Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg, 3, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. Planetary and Space Sciences, Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. ; Physikalisches Institut, Sidlerstrasse 5, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Planetary Science Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA. ; International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Planetary and Space Sciences, Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25613898" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉