鈥淩EMARKABLY enough, we have found fire and ice,鈥� says Don Brownlee, speaking about the samples brought back to Earth by NASA鈥檚 comet catcher, Stardust.
The discovery, announced by NASA on Monday, comes from studying about two dozen of the million or so dust grains captured from Comet Wild 2 and parachuted back to Earth in a capsule just two months ago. The dust grains contain minerals such as olivine, pyroxene and spinel, which form at red-hot or white-hot temperatures, according to Brownlee, principal investigator for the Stardust mission.
鈥淭he minerals from the comet dust form at red-hot or white-hot temperatures鈥�
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Comet Wild 2 is thought to have formed and spent most of its life in the Kuiper belt, a ring of icy objects beyond Neptune. So some of its dust may have originated close to the sun, within the orbit of Mercury, or even near another star before being transported to the Kuiper belt.
