Composition of Comet Samples Surprises NASA Scientists

[Celebration]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/13/AR2006031301670.html

HOUSTON, March 13 -- Dust samples from a comet formed in deep space unexpectedly contain high-temperature mineral particles that may have been ejected by the young sun at the dawn of the solar system, scientists said Monday.

First-sample results from NASA's Stardust mission suggest that scientists may have to modify the traditional view that comets are bodies of ice and dust composed largely of interstellar material on the outskirts of the solar system.

Instead, the sun, in a process not yet fully understood, may have catapulted material outward even as the "dust disk" that formed the solar system was swirling inward like a whirlpool with the sun at its center, said Stardust lead scientist Donald Brownlee of the University of Washington at Seattle. "We have found fire and ice," Brownlee told reporters at the Johnson Space Center here. "We have found extremely high-temperature minerals coming from the coldest place."

Early analysis revealed minerals that included magnesium iron silicate, known as olivine, or, in its gem-quality variety, peridot; magnesium aluminum oxide, also called spinel; and titanium nitride. Brownlee said all these form at temperatures of at least 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

[bbinacan]

1. Cool.

It makes sense that comets were spawned by stars. Thanks for the post.

[Occulus]

5. Wouldn't it also then make sense...

...that there are possibly many stars our sun's size that have a layer of comets further out than the star's planets?

Fascinating.

[bbinacan]

6. Yes it would. n/t

[arcane1]

2. fascinating...

it's amazing how much we know, and how much more we know that we don't know...

Lewis Thomas said it best- "The greatest of all the accomplishments of twentieth-century science has been the discovery of human ignorance."

[Mythsaje]

3. I wonder what the chances are

we can find heretofore unknown elements.

[Vinnie From Indy]

4. I'm surprised thet didn't find High Fructose Corn Syrup

in the comets. It seems to be in everything else.

[Codeine]

7. Remember

when the anti-science zealots here at DU derided the comet-study project as being valueless and geared toward destruction. Turns out we found some pretty darned fascinatin' stuff. :toast: :bounce: :patriot:

[NNadir]

8. I would have been surprised if there were not some high temperature

materials collected on comets. We are very clearly supernova ejecta in these parts.

[Odin2005]

10. That's exactly what I though too.

Sillicates and metals that formed in planetary nebulae and supernova remainants.

[benburch]

9. One caveat...

It might not have been one of OUR comets!

When stars pass close to each other, it is believed that sometimes they acquire a few of each other's comets.

[Ready4Change]

11. self delete

.

[NNadir]

14. Are the alien comets here legally or illegally?

One would hope that the foreign comets would have legal visas, especially if they are bringing high temperature minerals from other parts of the galaxy. We already have too many comets in this neighborhood.

We just can't have that sort of thing uncontrolled.

[benburch]

15. I propose we form a Space Patrol to protect us from this threat!

http://users.bestweb.net.nyud.net:8090/~foosie/sp1.gif

[NNadir]

16. Those look like some bad ass comet busters. I approve.

Let's get 'em on the job.

[Ready4Change]

12. Maybe Big Bang remnants?

I've always wondered about the prevelance of materials that really need the environments found only within stars to be created. Iron, carbon, etc... If stars typically live only a few billion years, and the universe is only 12-15 billion old, that's not many generations of stars, and most of that material should still be trapped within burnt out stellar bodies.

So, how did it get into our sun accretion disk and then into what has become Earth?

I think the chaos of the Big Bang also brewed up a LOT of this material. As the universe spread out, this material got torn up and scattered. Thus, even the first accretion disks likely contained materials we think are normally only formed in stars.

So, these elements found in comets might not be from our sun, or any other star. They could be remants of the Big Bang.

Just my hypothesis. No basis on facts whatsoever.
Bitter, and Proud of it.

[puerco-bellies]

13. Minerals like Peridot, and Olivine form deep in slow cooling rock

Comets, being the happy wonderer's that they are, collect/accrete materials as they travel, or has the comet is formed. It is my belief that this comet has picked up material ether blasted from a planetary impact, or from a planet destroyed earlier in the history of our solar system