Investigation of Carbonaceous Phases in Interplanetary Dust Particles by Acid Dissolution of Microtomed Thin-Sections

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1218-1219
Author(s):  
D. J. Joswiak ◽  
D. E. Brownlee
Keyword(s):  
Size Range ◽  
Interplanetary Dust ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Nanometer Scale ◽  
Interplanetary Dust Particles ◽  
Acid Dissolution ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Extraterrestrial Materials ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Tem Grid

Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) collected from the stratosphere are grains of cosmic dust delivered from asteroids and comets. IDPs are composed of complex mixtures of carbon, silicate glass and submicron to nanometer-sized minerals including Fe-Mg silicates, Fe-Ni sulfides, oxides and metal. Bulk SEM and detailed TEM investigations of stratospheric IDPs in the size range of 5 - 15 μm have shown that many IDPs have remarkably high concentrations of carbon - essentially the highest carbon abundances of any known extraterrestrial materials - and often this carbon is intermixed at the nanometer scale with other constituent phases. in order to investigate the properties, occurrence and spatial distribution of carbon in IDPs, we have developed a unique aciddissolution technique using standard microtomed thin-sections to remove the silicate and oxide fractions, thereby leaving a residue primarily of carbon and Fe-Ni sulfides. This technique causes no damage to the delicate microtomed sections or TEM grid and dramatically minimizes the quantity of acids required for etching.

scholarly journals Dust of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko collected by Rosetta/MIDAS: classification and extension to the nanometer scale

2019 ◽  
Vol 630 ◽  
pp. A26 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Mannel ◽  
M. S. Bentley ◽  
P. D. Boakes ◽  
H. Jeszenszky ◽  
P. Ehrenfreund ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interplanetary Dust ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Nanometer Scale ◽  
Early Solar System ◽  
Interplanetary Dust Particles ◽  
Surface Features ◽  
Cometary Dust ◽  
Log Normal ◽  
Resolution Of Imaging ◽  
Comet 67P

Context. The properties of the smallest subunits of cometary dust contain information on their origin and clues to the formation of planetesimals and planets. Compared to interplanetary dust particles or particles collected during the Stardust mission, dust collected in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) during the Rosetta mission provides a resource of minimally altered material with known origin whose structural properties can be used to further the investigation of the early solar system. Aims. The cometary dust particle morphologies found at comet 67P on the micrometer scale are classified, and their structural analysis is extended to the nanometer scale. Methods. We present a novel method for achieving the highest spatial resolution of imaging obtained with the MIDAS Atomic Force Microscope on board Rosetta. 3D topographic images with resolutions down to 8 nm were analyzed to determine the subunit sizes of particles on the nanometer scale. Results. Three morphological classes can be determined: (i) fragile agglomerate particles of sizes larger than about 10 μm comprised of micrometer-sized subunits that may themselves be aggregates and show a moderate packing density on the surface of the particles. (ii) A fragile agglomerate with a size of about a few tens of micrometers comprised of micrometer-sized subunits that are suggested to be aggregates themselves and are arranged in a structure with a fractal dimension lower than two. (iii) Small micrometer-sized particles comprised of subunits in the size range of hundreds of nanometers that show surface features that are again suggested to represent subunits. Their differential size distributions follow a log-normal distribution with means of about 100 nm and standard deviations between 20 and 35 nm. Conclusions. The properties of the dust particles found by MIDAS represent an extension of the dust results of Rosetta to the micro- and nanometer scale. All micrometer-sized particles are hierarchical dust agglomerates of smaller subunits. The arrangement, appearance, and size distribution of the smallest determined surface features are reminiscent of those found in chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles. They represent the smallest directly detected subunits of comet 67P.

The genetic relationship between hydrous and anhydrous interplanetary dust particles

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 1720-1721
Author(s):  
Michael Zolensky ◽  
Ruth Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Interplanetary Dust ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Interplanetary Dust Particles ◽  
Aqueous Alteration ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Fundamental Goal ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Extraterrestrial Materials ◽  
Interplanetary Dust Particle

It is a fundamental goal of interplanetary dust particle (IDP) research to determine the sources and histories of these primitive extraterrestrial materials. Chondritic IDPs have been divided into anhydrous and hydrous varieties, with sub-classification being made on the grounds of the dominant anhydrous (olivine or pyroxene) or hydrous (smectite or serpentine) present. The presumption is that hydrated IDPs experienced aqueous alteration on parent bodies (hydrous asteroids or possibly comets); we wish to discover whether the anhydrous IDPs were the initial raw materials for these reactions. We report here analyses of olivines and pyroxenes from 22 large (>15 um) chondritic IDPs: 18 anhydrous and 4 hydrous; olivines and pyroxenes are scarce in most hydrous IDPs, when present at all Finally, we compare anhydrous to hydrous IDPs, and both to chondritic meteorites.Figure 1 shows our results for this study. We find there to exist no significant difference in the compositions of olivines from olivine vs. pyroxene dominated IDPs, which are therefore plotted together (in contrast to our preliminary results for a smaller data set).

IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF INTERPLANETARY DUST PARTICLES FILTERED FROM ANTARCTIC AIR

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Burgess ◽  
◽  
David Bour ◽  
Rhonda M. Stroud ◽  
Anais Bardyn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interplanetary Dust ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Interplanetary Dust Particles

scholarly journals On Two Mechanisms of X-Ray Generation in Comets

1985 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 365-368
Author(s):  
S. Ibadov
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Interplanetary Dust ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Interplanetary Dust Particles ◽  
Temperature Plasma ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Plasma Generation ◽  
High Temperature Plasma

AbstractThe intensity of solar X-radiation scattered by a comet is calculated and compared to the proper X-radiation of the comet due to impacts of cometary and interplanetary dust particles. Detection of X-radiation of dusty comets at small heliocentric distances (R ≤ 1 a.u.) is found to be an indicator of high-temperature plasma generation as result of grain collisions.

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