Tag Archive for 'Stardust'

Characterization of a presolar spinel-hibonite grain from the asteroid Bennu. Image credit: Nguyen et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-025-02688-3.

Scientists Find Presolar Stardust in Samples from Asteroid Bennu

Dec 10, 2025 by News Staff

Researchers have detected an unexpectedly high abundance of presolar grains — dust from stellar explosions predating our Solar System — in...

Wild 2 Comet Contains High Fraction of Dust from Young Solar System, Study Shows

Jan 17, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Stardust mission returned rocky material from the coma of comet 81P/Wild 2 (pronounced ‘Vilt 2’) to Earth on January 15, 2006. Comet Wild...

(A) location map for glass localities in Chile: (1) southwest of La Calera; (2) near the town of Pica; (3) Puquio de Núñez; (4) Quebrada de Chipana; and (5) Quebrada Guatacondo. (B) concentration of glassy slabs (dark masses) at the Chipana locality. Largest example in this view is 0.4 m across. Image credit: Schultz et al., doi: 10.1130/G49426.1.

Massive Comet Exploded over Atacama Desert 12,000 Years Ago, Study Suggests

Nov 8, 2021 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal Geology, samples of glassy slabs found in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile, contain tiny fragments with...

Palmerini et al. analyzed the isotopic composition of heavy neutron capture elements measured in SiC stardust grains extracted from pristine meteorites, interpreting them as the outcome of s-process nucleosynthesis occurring in the AGB stages of stars with masses between two and three solar masses and solar metallicities. Image credit: Nan Liu / Andrew Davis / NASA.

Researchers Measure Isotopic Ratios in Presolar Stardust Grains

Oct 12, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has analyzed a diverse set of presolar grains with the goal of realizing their true stellar origins. Palmerini et al....

Curious Marie is a sample of the Allende meteorite, which fell in northern Mexico in February 1969. The white, fuzzy-looking features in this fragment are calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions -- some of the first solids to condense in the Solar System. Image credit: The Planetary Society.

Researchers Find Presolar Grains in Unusual Inclusion from Allende Meteorite

Jan 29, 2020 by News Staff

Scientists from Washington University, St. Louis, Caltech and the University of Chicago have found presolar grains — tiny bits of solid interstellar...

Scanning electron microscope image of the 6.2-billion-year-old grain of silicon carbide from the Murchison meteorite. Image credit: Heck et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1904573117.

Scientists Find 7-Billion-Year-Old Stardust in Murchison Meteorite

Jan 13, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United States, Switzerland and Australia has found 4.6 to 7-billion-year-old presolar grains of silicon carbide (SiC) in...