Stardust Images from AAAS

Below are three images released on February 20, 2006 by Don Brownlee during a Stardust briefing at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting held in St. Louis. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Washington .

Images

This image shows a comet particle collected by the Stardust spacecraft. The particle is made up of the silicate mineral forsterite, also known as peridot in its gem form. It is surrounded by a thin rim of melted aerogel, the substance used to collect the comet dust samples. The particle is about 2 micrometers across.
This image shows the tracks left by two comet particles after they impacted the Stardust spacecraft's comet dust collector. The collector is made up of a low-density glass material called aerogel. Scientists have begun extracting comet particles from these and other similar tadpole-shaped tracks.
This image illustrates one of several ways scientists have begun extracting comet particles from the Stardust spacecraft's collector. First, a particle and its track are cut out of the collector material, called aerogel, in a wedge-shaped slice called a keystone. A specialized silicon pickle fork is then used to remove the keystone from the remaining aerogel for further analysis.