Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Originally published in Science Express on 27 February 2003
Science 4 April 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5616, pp. 105 - 108
DOI: 10.1126/science.1080576
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Samples of Stars Beyond the Solar System: Silicate Grains in Interplanetary Dust

Scott Messenger,1 Lindsay P. Keller,2 Frank J. Stadermann,1 Robert M. Walker,1 Ernst Zinner1

We have identified six circumstellar silicate grains within interplanetary dust particles (IDPs). Their extrasolar origins are demonstrated by their extremely anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions. Three 17O-rich grains appear to originate from red giant or asymptotic giant branch stars. One 16O-rich grain may be from a metal-poor star. Two 16O-poor grains have unknown stellar sources. One of the grains is forsterite, and two are amorphous silicate "GEMS" (glass with embedded metal and sulfides), which is consistent with astronomical identifications of crystalline and amorphous silicates in the outflows of evolved stars. These observations suggest cometary origins of these IDPs and underscore the perplexing absence of silicates among circumstellar dust grains from meteorites.

1 Laboratory for Space Sciences and Physics Department, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
2 Mail Code SR, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Comparison of Comet 81P/Wild 2 Dust with Interplanetary Dust from Comets.
H. A. Ishii, J. P. Bradley, Z. R. Dai, M. Chi, A. T. Kearsley, M. J. Burchell, N. D. Browning, and F. Molster (2008)
Science 319, 447-450
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nucleosynthesis and Chemical Evolution of Oxygen.
B. S. Meyer, L. R. Nittler, A. N. Nguyen, and S. Messenger (2008)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 68, 31-53
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Oxygen Isotopes of Chondritic Components.
H. Yurimoto, A. N. Krot, B.-G. Choi, J. Aleon, T. Kunihiro, and A. J. Brearley (2008)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 68, 141-186
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Oxygen in Comets and Interplanetary Dust Particles.
S. A. Sandford, S. Messenger, M. DiSanti, L. Keller, and K. Altwegg (2008)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 68, 247-272
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The mineralogy of cosmic dust: astromineralogy.
A. P. Jones (2007)
European Journal of Mineralogy 19, 771-782
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mineralogy and Petrology of Comet 81P/Wild 2 Nucleus Samples.
M. E. Zolensky, T. J. Zega, H. Yano, S. Wirick, A. J. Westphal, M. K. Weisberg, I. Weber, J. L. Warren, M. A. Velbel, A. Tsuchiyama, et al. (2006)
Science 314, 1735-1739
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Supernova Olivine from Cometary Dust.
S. Messenger, L. P. Keller, and D. S. Lauretta (2005)
Science 309, 737-741
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Supported Membrane Composition Analysis by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry with High Lateral Resolution.
C. Galli Marxer, M. L. Kraft, P. K. Weber, I. D. Hutcheon, and S. G. Boxer (2005)
Biophys. J. 88, 2965-2975
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
An Astronomical 2175 A Feature in Interplanetary Dust Particles.
J. Bradley, Z. R. Dai, R. Erni, N. Browning, G. Graham, P. Weber, J. Smith, I. Hutcheon, H. Ishii, S. Bajt, et al. (2005)
Science 307, 244-247
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Discovery of Ancient Silicate Stardust in a Meteorite.
A. N. Nguyen and E. Zinner (2004)
Science 303, 1496-1499
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)