Meteorites and cosmic dust: Interstellar heritage and nebular processes in the early solar system
Small solar system bodies like asteroids and comets have escaped planetary accretion. They are the oldest and best preserved witnesses of the formation of the solar system. Samples of these celestial bodies fall on Earth as meteorites and interplanetary dust. The STARDUST mission also recently retur...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
EDP Sciences
2012-01-01
|
| Series: | EPJ Web of Conferences |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20111805001 |
| Summary: | Small solar system bodies like asteroids and comets have escaped planetary accretion. They are the oldest and best preserved witnesses of the formation of the solar system. Samples of these celestial bodies fall on Earth as meteorites and interplanetary dust. The STARDUST mission also recently returned to Earth cometary dust from comet 81P/Wild 2, a Jupiter Family Comet (JFC). These samples provide unique insights on the physico-chemical conditions and early processes of the solar system. They also contain some minute amount of materials inherited from the local interstellar medium that have survived the accretion processes in the solar system. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2100-014X |