NASA scientists secure: the particles are cosmic dust – New Technology

Seven particles of unknown origin have been able to be detected by the spacecraft Stardust. According to researchers at the American space agency Nasa will not from our solar system.

     The thin black line in the upper left reveals that the particle, called Sorok, has been captured and vaporized in the airgel. Aerogel is composed of two parts per thousand silicon and the rest “nothing” that slows down and captures the star stuff without destroying it. Credit: Westphal et al. 2014 Science / AAAS

     One of the particles captured by the airgel board Stardust. Credit: Andrew Westphal

     For seven years, hoovering detectors aboard the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector space for particles that do not come from our solar system. Bid: NASA / JPL-Caltech

In 1999 was sent Stardust spacecraft into space. The aim was to look for cosmic dust that traveled into our solar system. On board were detectors with airgel and aluminum foil where the particles, or traces of them, would be captured.

In 2006, Stardust returned to Earth and dropped the capsule with the detectors.

In the seven years since then, a consortium of 70 researchers and 30 000 volunteers studied 700 000 microscope pictures taken by the detector’s content. The recently revealed the results show that seven of the trapped particles are neither coming from our solar system or from the probe itself. According to NASA, the first cosmic dust that have been identified and studied here on Earth.

The largest particle has a diameter of 2 microns while the smallest being 200 nanometers. According to scientists, similar to some of those tiny snowflakes.

Together they weigh seven particles one trillionth of a gram. The low weight despite expected to reveal previously unknown details about what happened when the solar system was born.

Researchers evidence that the particles are not comes from our solar system are published in the latest issue of the journal Science.

Twelve additional articles about the findings published in the next issue of the journal Meteoritics & amp; Planetary Science.