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Science 15 December 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5806, pp. 1735 - 1739
DOI: 10.1126/science.1135842

Reports

Mineralogy and Petrology of Comet 81P/Wild 2 Nucleus Samples

Michael E. Zolensky,1* Thomas J. Zega,2 Hajime Yano,3 Sue Wirick,4 Andrew J. Westphal,5 Mike K. Weisberg,6 Iris Weber,7 Jack L. Warren,8 Michael A. Velbel,9 Akira Tsuchiyama,10 Peter Tsou,11 Alice Toppani,12,13 Naotaka Tomioka,14 Kazushige Tomeoka,14 Nick Teslich,12 Mitra Taheri,2 Jean Susini,15 Rhonda Stroud,2 Thomas Stephan,7 Frank J. Stadermann,16 Christopher J. Snead,5 Steven B. Simon,17 Alexandre Simionovici,18 Thomas H. See,19 François Robert,20 Frans J. M. Rietmeijer,21 William Rao,22 Murielle C. Perronnet,1 Dimitri A. Papanastassiou,23 Kyoko Okudaira,3 Kazumasa Ohsumi,24 Ichiro Ohnishi,14 Keiko Nakamura-Messenger,8 Tomoki Nakamura,25 Smail Mostefaoui,20 Takashi Mikouchi,26 Anders Meibom,20 Graciela Matrajt,27 Matthew A. Marcus,28 Hugues Leroux,29 Laurence Lemelle,18 Loan Le,8 Antonio Lanzirotti,30 Falko Langenhorst,31 Alexander N. Krot,32 Lindsay P. Keller,1 Anton T. Kearsley,33 David Joswiak,27 Damien Jacob,29 Hope Ishii,12 Ralph Harvey,34 Kenji Hagiya,35 Lawrence Grossman,17,36 Jeffrey N. Grossman,37 Giles A. Graham,12 Matthieu Gounelle,20,33 Philippe Gillet,18 Matthew J. Genge,38 George Flynn,39 Tristan Ferroir,18 Stewart Fallon,12 Denton S. Ebel,40 Zu Rong Dai,12 Patrick Cordier,29 Benton Clark,41 Miaofang Chi,12 Anna L. Butterworth,5 Donald E. Brownlee,27 John C. Bridges,42 Sean Brennan,43 Adrian Brearley,21 John P. Bradley,12 Pierre Bleuet,15 Phil A. Bland,33,38 Ron Bastien8

The bulk of the comet 81P/Wild 2 (hereafter Wild 2) samples returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft appear to be weakly constructed mixtures of nanometer-scale grains, with occasional much larger (over 1 micrometer) ferromagnesian silicates, Fe-Ni sulfides, Fe-Ni metal, and accessory phases. The very wide range of olivine and low-Ca pyroxene compositions in comet Wild 2 requires a wide range of formation conditions, probably reflecting very different formation locations in the protoplanetary disk. The restricted compositional ranges of Fe-Ni sulfides, the wide range for silicates, and the absence of hydrous phases indicate that comet Wild 2 experienced little or no aqueous alteration. Less abundant Wild 2 materials include a refractory particle, whose presence appears to require radial transport in the early protoplanetary disk.

1 Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
2 Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6360, 4555 Overlook Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20375, USA.
3 JAXA-ISAS, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8510, Japan.
4 National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA.
5 Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720–7450, USA.
6 Department of Physical Sciences, Kingsborough Community College (CUNY), Brooklyn, NY 11235, USA.
7 Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Strasse 10, 48149 Münster, Germany.
8 Jacobs Sverdrup, Engineering Science Contract Group, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
9 Department of Geological Sciences, 206 Natural Science Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824–1115, USA.
10 Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama-cho, Toyonaka 560-0043, Japan.
11 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, M/S 183-501, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
12 Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.
13 Centre de Spectrometrie Nucleaire et de Spectrometrie de Masse, Bâtiment 104, 91405 Orsay Campus, France.
14 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kobe University, Nada, Kobe 657-8501, Japan.
15 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Boîte Postale 220, 38043 Grenoble, France.
16 Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
17 Department of Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
18 Laboratoire de Sciences de la Terre, Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, 46, Allee d'Italie, 69007 Lyon, France.
19 Engineering Science Contract/Barrios Technology, ARES/JSC, Houston, TX 77258–8447, USA.
20 Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire d'Etude de la Matiere Extraterrestre, USM 0205 (LEME), Case Postale 52, 57 Rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France.
21 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, MSC 03-2040, Albuquerque, NM 87131–0001, USA.
22 Savannah River Ecology Lab, Aiken, SC 29801, USA.
23 Science Division, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, M/S 183-335, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
24 Institute of Materials Structure Science, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305, Japan.
25 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Kyushu University, Hakozaki, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
26 Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
27 Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
28 Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 2R2100, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
29 Laboratoire de Structure et Propriétés de l'Etat Solide, Bâtiment C6, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.
30 Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
31 Institute of Geosciences, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Burgweg 11, D-07749 Jena, Germany.
32 Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
33 Impact and Astromaterials Research Centre, Department of Mineralogy, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK.
34 Department of Geology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
35 Graduate School of Life Science, University of Hyogo, Koto 3-2-1, Kamigori, Ako-gun, Hyogo 678-1297, Japan.
36 Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
37 U.S. Geological Survey, 954 National Center, Reston, VA 20192, USA.
38 Impact and Astromaterials Research Centre, Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
39 Department of Physics, State University of New York, Plattsburgh, NY 12901, USA.
40 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA.
41 Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO 80201, USA.
42 Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute, Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK.
43 Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: michael.e.zolensky{at}nasa.gov

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