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Science 18 September 1987:
Vol. 237. no. 4821, pp. 1466 - 1468
DOI: 10.1126/science.237.4821.1466
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Articles

Reports Refractory Interplanetary Dust Particles

MICHAEL E. ZOLENSKY 1

1 Solar System Exploration Division, SN2/NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058.

Criteria are described by which refractory interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) can be differentiated from the products of spacecraft debris. These criteria have been used to discover and characterize IDPs that are composed predominantly of refractory phases. Two of these particles contain hibonite, perovskite, spinel, refractory glass, and a melilite; only hibonite was identified within a third. The grain size for all particles ranges from 0.05 to 1 micrometer, so that they are much finer grained than the refractory calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusions in meteorites. The glass-containing refractory IDPs may be primitive nebular condensates that never completely crystallized and thus have been preserved extant.

Submitted on April 13, 1987
Accepted on July 7, 1987


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Oxygen Isotopes in Refractory Stratospheric Dust Particles: Proof of Extraterrestrial Origin.
K. D. McKeegan and K. D. MCKEEGAN (1987)
Science 237, 1468-1471
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)