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Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination VIII: Identification of crystalline material in two interstellar candidates
Author(s) -
Gainsforth Zack,
Brenker Frank E.,
Simionovici Alexandre S.,
Schmitz Sylvia,
Burghammer Manfred,
Butterworth Anna L.,
Cloetens Peter,
Lemelle Laurence,
Tresserras JuanAngel Sans,
Schoonjans Tom,
Silversmit Geert,
Solé Vicente A.,
Vekemans Bart,
Vincze Laszlo,
Westphal Andrew J.,
Allen Carlton,
Anderson David,
Ansari Asna,
Bajt Saša,
Bastien Ron K.,
Bassim Nabil,
Bechtel Hans A.,
Borg Janet,
Bridges John,
Brownlee Donald E.,
Burchell Mark,
Changela Hitesh,
Davis Andrew M.,
Doll Ryan,
Floss Christine,
Flynn George,
Fougeray Patrick,
Frank David,
Grün Eberhard,
Heck Philipp R.,
Hillier Jon K.,
Hoppe Peter,
Hudson Bruce,
Huth Joachim,
Hvide Brit,
Kearsley Anton,
King Ashley J.,
Lai Barry,
Leitner Jan,
Leroux Hugues,
Leonard Ariel,
Lettieri Robert,
Marchant William,
Nittler Larry R.,
Ogliore Ryan,
Ong Wei Ja,
Postberg Frank,
Price Mark C.,
Sandford Scott A.,
Srama Ralf,
Stephan Thomas,
Sterken Veerle,
Stodolna Julien,
Stroud Rhonda M.,
Sutton Steven,
Trieloff Mario,
Tsou Peter,
Tsuchiyama Akira,
Tyliszczak Tolek,
Von Korff Joshua,
Zevin Daniel,
Zolensky Michael E.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/maps.12148
Subject(s) - olivine , crystallite , cosmic dust , interstellar medium , amorphous solid , synchrotron , spinel , crystallography , grain size , materials science , interplanetary dust cloud , physics , chemistry , mineralogy , astrophysics , solar system , optics , metallurgy , galaxy
Using synchrotron‐based X‐ray diffraction measurements, we identified crystalline material in two particles of extraterrestrial origin extracted from the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector. The first particle, I1047,1,34 (Hylabrook), consisted of a mosaiced olivine grain approximately 1 µ m in size with internal strain fields up to 0.3%. The unit cell dimensions were a = 4.85 ± 0.08 Å, b = 10.34 ± 0.16 Å, c = 6.08 ± 0.13 Å (2σ). The second particle, I1043,1,30 (Orion), contained an olivine grain ≈ 2 µ m in length and >500 nm in width. It was polycrystalline with both mosaiced domains varying over ≈ 20∘ and additional unoriented domains, and contained internal strain fields < 1%. The unit cell dimensions of the olivine were a = 4.76 ± 0.05 Å, b = 10.23 ± 0.10 Å, c = 5.99 ± 0.06 Å (2σ), which limited the olivine to a forsteritic composition > Fo 65(2σ). Orion also contained abundant spinel nanocrystals of unknown composition, but unit cell dimension a = 8.06 ± 0.08 Å (2σ). Two additional crystalline phases were present and remained unidentified. An amorphous component appeared to be present in both these particles based on STXM and XRF results reported elsewhere.