Dust Grains in the Comae and Tails of Sungrazing Comets: Modeling of Their Mineralogical and Morphological Properties

Observations of sungrazing comets, all of which belong to the Kreutz family, provide the opportunity of studying the properties of dust in the comae and tails of the comets. On the basis of available information on cometary and interplanetary dust as well as observations of dust in the tails of sungrazers, we model dust in sungrazing comets as fluffy silicate aggregates of submicrometer sizes. To better interpret observational data, we numerically calculate the solar radiation pressure, the equilibrium temperature, and the sublimation and crystallization rates of silicate grains near the Sun. Our results show that the dust tails contain aggregates of submicrometer crystal grains, but not amorphous grains, since amorphous silicates mostly crystallize after release from the comets. The peak in the lightcurves of the dust comae observed either at 11.2 or 12.3 solar radii (R_⊙) seems to result from sublimation of fluffy aggregates consisting of crystalline or amorphous olivines, respectively. We attribute an additional enhancement in the lightcurves inside 7 R_⊙ to increasing out-flow of crystalline and amorphous pyroxenes composed fluffy aggregates. According to our model, the observed lightcurves indicate a high abundance of olivine and a low abundance of pyroxene in the comets, which may bear implications about the dynamical and thermal history of the sungrazers and their progenitor.     

Results of observations of the dust distribution in the F-corona of the sun

The results of modeling of the distribution of dust in the circumsolar zone are presented. The dust distribution was retrieved from observations of the line-of-sight velocities in the F-corona to the distances of 7–11 solar radii during the total eclipses of the Sun in different years: on July 31, 1981; August 11, 1991; March 29, 2006; and August 1, 2008. Comparison of the results has shown that the dust composition varies from year to year and the dust is dynamically nonuniform. In addition to the dust related to the zodiacal cloud and concentrating to the ecliptic plane, the dust of retrograde motion and the ejections and accretion in the polar regions are observed. From the results of observations of eclipses on July 31, 1981, August 11, 1991, and August 1, 2008, the east–west asymmetry in a sign of the line-of-sight velocities was detected: they are negative to the east of the Sun and positive to the west. Such distribution of the velocities is indicative of the nearecliptic orbital dust motion, whose direction coincides with that of the motion of the planets. In the course of the eclipse of March 29, 2006, almost no dynamical connection with the zodiacal cloud was found. At the same time, the direction, where the observed velocities are largest in value and opposite in sign on opposite sides of the Sun, was determined, which provides evidence of the orbital motion deviating from the ecliptic plane. The results of observations in 2006 reveal a clear genetic connection of the observed orbital motion of dust with the parent comets of the Kreutz family found near the Sun close to the eclipse date. The velocities observed near the symmetry line in the plane of the sky grow by absolute value with increasing the elongation, which may take place, if the line of sight croßses an empty zone that is free of dust. The modeling of the data of observations near the symmetry plane allowed the parameters of the dust distribution near the sublimation zone to be obtained. In 2006, the “black” cometary dust with a low albedo (A = 0.05) was observed; it showed high values of the power-law exponents in the distance distribution of the dust concentration (V = 2.2 > 1) and in the size distribution of grains (γ = 5.2 > 4.0) and a strong radiation pressure (β = 0.70–0.74). We estimated the mean radius of grains as ≈0.8–0.9 µm and the radius of the dust-free zone as ≈9.1–9.2 solar radii. The latter corresponds to the distances, where the low-melt components of olivines and pyroxenes disintegrate. In 2008, the observed zodiacal dust concentrating to the ecliptic plane demonstrated the canonical parameters: A = 0.1–0.2, V ≈ 1, ß ≈ 0, γ = 4.0, the mean radii of grains were 0.9–1.2 µm, and the radius of the dust-free zone was 7.0–7.6 solar radii.     

Mass loss rate of the zodiacal dust cloud

The mass loss rate of the zodiacal dust cloud near the Sun has been estimated on the basis of the orbital behaviour of circumsolar dust grains suffering sublimation. It is found that the solar dust ring located at 4 solar radii from the Sun, which consists of grains whose inward spiraling due to the Poynting-Robertson effect is stopped by the influence of sublimation, loses its mass at a rate of 3.50.35 tons per second.     

Dust ring formation due to sublimation of dust grains drifting radially inward by the Poynting-Robertson drag: An analytical model

Dust particles exposed to the stellar radiation and wind drift radially inward by the Poynting-Robertson (P-R) drag and pile up at the zone where they begin to sublime substantially. The reason they pile up or form a ring is that their inward drifts due to the P-R drag are suppressed by stellar radiation pressure when the ratio of radiation pressure to stellar gravity on them increases during their sublimation phases. We present analytic solutions to the orbital and mass evolution of such subliming dust particles, and find their drift velocities at the pileup zone are almost independent of their initial semimajor axes and masses. We derive analytically an enhancement factor of the number density of the particles at the outer edge of the sublimation zone from the solutions. We show that the formula of the enhancement factor reproduces well numerical simulations in the previous studies. The enhancement factor for spherical dust particles of silicate and carbon extends from 3 to more than 20 at stellar luminosities L_?=0.8-500L_⊙, where L_⊙ is solar luminosity. Although the enhancement factor for fluffy dust particles is smaller than that for spherical particles, sublimating particles inevitably form a dust ring as long as their masses decrease faster than their surface areas during sublimation. The formulation is applicable to dust ring formation for arbitrary shape and material of dust in dust-debris disks as well as in the Solar System.     

Nanoparticles in the inner solar system

We discuss different scenarios for the formation and dynamics of nanoparticles in the inner solar system. Particles up to a few tens of nanometer size, if formed at a distance larger than several 0.1 AU from the Sun, are picked up by the solar wind and therefore do not reach the regions closer to the sun. At distances ⩽0.1 AU particles of several tens of nanometer in size can stay in bound orbits and, aside from the Lorentz force, the plasma and the photon Poynting–Robertson effect determine their spatial distribution. Local sources of nanometer-sized particles in the inner solar system are collisional fragmentation and sublimation of dust and meteoroids. The most likely materials to survive in the very vicinity of the Sun are MgO particles from the sublimation of cometary and meteoritic silicates, nanodiamonds originating from meteoroid material, and possibly carbon structures formed by thermal alteration of organics. The nanoparticles may produce spectral features in a limited spectral interval, and this spectral interval varies with particle size, composition and temperature. Bearing in mind the wide size distribution of solar system dust and the preponderance of larger particles, it is unlikely that nanoparticles can be detected in thermal emission or scattered light brightness and we are unable to predict observable features for these nanoparticles. If the nanodust produced observable features, they are most likely to appear in the blue or near infrared. We suggest a more promising option is the in situ detection of the particles.     

The mid-infrared spectrum of the zodiacal and exozodiacal light

The zodiacal light is the dominant source of the mid-infrared sky brightness seen from Earth, and exozodiacal light is the dominant emission from planetary and debris systems around other stars. We observed the zodiacal light spectrum with the mid-infrared camera ISOCAM over the wavelength range 5-16 μm and a wide range of orientations relative to the Sun (solar elongations 68°-113°) and the ecliptic (plane to pole). The temperature in the ecliptic ranged from 269 K at solar elongation 68° to 244 K at 113°, and the polar temperature, characteristic of dust 1 AU from the Sun, is 274 K. The observed temperature is exactly as expected for large (>10 μm radius), low-albedo (<0.08), rapidly-rotating, gray particles 1 AU from the Sun. Smaller particles (<10 μm radius) radiate inefficiently in the infrared and are warmer than observed. We present theoretical models for a wide range of particle size distributions and compositions; it is evident that the zodiacal light is produced by particles in the 10-100 μm radius range. In addition to the continuum, we detect a weak excess in the 9-11 μm range, with an amplitude of 6% of the continuum. The shape of the feature can be matched by a mixture of silicates: amorphous forsterite/olivine provides most of the continuum and some of the 9-11 μm silicate feature, dirty crystalline olivine provides the red wing of the silicate feature (and a bump at 11.35 μm), and a hydrous silicate (montmorillonite) provides the blue wing of the silicate feature. The presence of hydrous silicate suggests the parent bodies of those particles were formed in the inner solar nebula. Large particles dominate the size distribution, but at least some small particles (radii ∼1 μm) are required to produce the silicate emission feature. The strength of the feature may vary spatially, with the strongest features being at the lowest solar elongations as well as at high ecliptic latitudes; if confirmed, this would imply that the dust properties change such that dust further from the Sun has a weaker silicate feature. To compare the properties of zodiacal dust to dust around other main sequence stars, we reanalyzed the exozodiacal light spectrum for β Pic to derive the shape of its silicate feature. The zodiacal and exozodiacal spectra are very different. The exozodiacal spectra are dominated by cold dust, with emission peaking in the far-infrared, while the zodiacal spectrum peaks around 20 μm. We removed the debris disk continuum from the spectra by fitting a blackbody with a different temperature for each aperture (ranging from 3.7″ to 27″); the resulting silicate spectra for β Pic are identical for all apertures, indicating that the silicate feature arises close to the star. The shape of the silicate feature from β Pic is nearly identical to that derived from the ISO spectrum of 51 Oph; both exozodiacal features are very different from that of the zodiacal light. The exozodiacal features are roughly triangular, peaking at 10.3 μm, while the zodiacal feature is more boxy, indicating a different mineralogy.     

Motion of dust particles under the influence of a latitudinally dependent force

The Kelperian motion of dust particles in the solar system is mainly influenced by the electromagnetic and plasma Poynting-Robertson drag. The first force is isotropic while the second one shows latitudinal variations due to the observed differences of the solar wind parameters in the ecliptic plane and over the solar poles. Close to the Sun other effects become important, e.g. sublimation and sputtering, as well as for submicron particles Lorentz scattering has to be taken into account. These forces are very weak for dust grains of moderate size (10–100 µ) not too close (>0.03 AU) to the Sun and are neglected here. Assuming that the general form of the latidudinally dependent force is a series expansion in Legendre polynomials, we have studied the averaged equations of motion for the classical elements and found the first integral of them. The general character of motion is the same as for the classical Poynting-Robertson drag: particles spiral towards the Sun. The new features in the orbital evolution under the latitudinally dependent force as compared with the isotropic Poynting-Robertson drag are:

1. not only the semimajor axisa and the eccentricity ε but also the argument of the perihelion ω varies with time,
2. the rate of change ofa, ε, ω depends on the inclination.

An example of particle trajectories in the phase space of elements is presented.     

KREEPy lunar meteorite Dhofar 287A: A new lunar mare basalt

Abstract— Dhofar 287 (Dho 287) is a new lunar meteorite, found in Oman on January 14, 2001. The main portion of this meteorite (Dho 287A) consists of a mare basalt, while a smaller portion of breccia (Dho 287B) is attached on the side. Dho 287A is only the fourth crystalline mare basalt meteorite found on Earth to date and is the subject of the present study. The basalt consists mainly of phenocrysts of olivine and pyroxene set in a finer‐grained matrix, which is composed of elongated pyroxene and plagioclase crystals radiating from a common nucleii. The majority of olivine and pyroxene grains are zoned, from core to rim, in terms of Fe and Mg. Accessory minerals include ilmenite, chromite, ulvöspinel, troilite, and FeNi metal. Chromite is invariably mantled by ulvöspinel. This rock is unusually rich in late‐stage mesostasis, composed largely of fayalite, Si‐K‐Ba‐rich glass, fluorapatite, and whitlockite. In texture and mineralogy, Dho 287A is a low‐Ti mare basalt, with similarities to Apollo 12 (A‐12) and Apollo 15 (A‐15) basalts. However, all plagioclase is now present as maskelynite, and its composition is atypical for known low‐Ti mare basalts. The Fe to Mn ratios of olivine and pyroxene, the presence of FeNi metal, and the bulk‐rock oxygen isotopic ratios, along with several other petrological features, are evidence for the lunar origin for this meteorite. Whole‐rock composition further confirms the similarity of Dho 287A with A‐12 and A‐15 samples but requires possible KREEP assimilation to account for its rare‐earth‐element (REE) contents. Cooling‐rate estimates, based on Fo zonation in olivine, yield values of 0.2–0.8°C/hr for the lava, typical for the center of a 10–20 m thick flow. The recalculated major‐element concentrations, after removing 10–15% modal olivine, are comparable to typical A‐15 mare basalts. Crystallization modeling of the recalculated Dho 287A bulk‐composition yields a reasonable fit between predicted and observed mineral abundances and compositions.     

Perceptive of the pyroxene-bearing micrometeorites and their relation to chondrites

We studied 149 pyroxenes from 69 pyroxene-bearing micrometeorites collected from deep-sea sediments of the Indian Ocean and South Pole Water Well at Antarctica, Amundsen-Scott South Pole station. The minor elements in pyroxenes from micrometeorites are present in the ranges as follows: MnO ~0.0–0.4 wt%, Al₂O₃ ~0.0–1.5 wt%, CaO ~0.0–1.0 wt%, Cr₂O₃ ~0.3–0.9 wt%, and FeO ~0.5–4 wt%. Their chemical compositions suggest that pyroxene-bearing micrometeorites are mostly related to precursors from carbonaceous chondrites rather than ordinary chondrites. The Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratio of the pyroxenes and olivines in micrometeorites shows similarities to carbonaceous chondrites with values lying between 0 and 0.2, and those with values beyond this range are dominated by ordinary chondrites. Atmospheric entry of the pyroxene-bearing micrometeorites is expected to have a relatively low entry velocity of <16 km s⁻¹ and high zenith angle (70–90°) to preserve their chemical compositions. In addition, similarities in the pyroxene and olivine mineralogical compositions between carbonaceous chondrites and cometary particles suggest that dust in the solar system is populated by materials from different sources that are chemically similar to each other. Our results on pyroxene chemical compositions reveal significant differences with those from ordinary chondrites. The narrow range in olivine and pyroxene chemical compositions are similar to those from carbonaceous chondrites, and a small proportion to ordinary chondrites indicates that dust is largely sourced from carbonaceous chondrite-type bodies.     

Interplanetary dust particles and solar radiation

The problem of the action of the solar radiation on the motion of interplanetary dust particle is discussed. Differences between the action of electromagnetic solar radiation and that of the solar wind are explained not only from the point of view of the physical nature of these phenomena but also from the point of view of dust particle's orbital evolution. As for the electromagnetic solar radiation, general equation of motion for the particle is written and the most important consequences are: (i) the process of inspiralling toward the Sun is not the only possible motion - even spiralling from the Sun is also possible, and, (ii) the orbital plane of the particle (its inclination) may change in time. As for the solar wind, the effect corresponding to the fact that solar wind particles spread out from the Sun in nonradial direction causes that the process of inspiralling toward the Sun is in more than 50% less effective than for radial spread out; in the region of the asteroid belt (long period orbits) the process of inspiralling is changed into offspiralling. Also shift in the perihelion of dust particle's orbit exists.     

Reflectance Spectral Characteristics of Lunar Surface Materials

Based on a comprehensive analysis of the mineral composition of major lunar rocks (highland anorthosite, lunar mare basalt and KREEP rock), we investigate the reflectance spectral characteristics of the lunar rock-forming minerals, including feldspar, pyroxene and olivine. The affecting factors, the variation of the intensity of solar radiation with wavelength and the reflectance spectra of the lunar rocks are studied. We also calculate the reflectivity of lunar mare basalt and highland anorthosite at 300 nm, 415 nm, 750 nm, 900 nm, 950 nm and 1000 nm. It is considered that the difference in composition between lunar mare basalt and highland anorthosite is so large that separate analyses are needed in the study of the reflectivity of lunar surface materials in the two regions covered by mare basalt and highland anorthosite, and especially in the region with high Th contents, which may be the KREEP-distributed region.     

Pervasive shock melting at >65 GPa in a Martian basalt,the shergottite Northwest Africa 14672

Shergottites have provided abundant information on the volcanic and impact history of Mars. Northwest Africa (NWA) 14672 contributes to both of these aspects. It is a vesicular ophitic depleted olivine–phyric shergottite, with average plagioclase An₆₁Ab₃₉Or_0.2. It is highly ferroan, with pigeonite compositions En_49-25Fs_41-61Wo_10-14 like those of basaltic shergottites, for example, NWA 12335. Olivine (Fo_53-15) has discrete ferroan overgrowths, more ferroan when in contact with plagioclase than when enclosed by pyroxene. The pyroxene (a continuum of augite, subcalcic augite, and pigeonite) is patchy, with ragged “cores” enveloped or invaded by ferroan pyroxene. Magma mixing may be responsible for capture of olivine and formation of pyroxene mantles. The plagioclase is maskelynite-like in appearance, but the original laths were (congruently) melted and the melt partly crystallized as fine dendrites. Most of the 14% vesicles occur within plagioclase. Olivine, pyroxene, and ilmenite occur in part as fine aggregates crystallized after congruent melting with limited subsequent liquid mixing. There are two fine-grained melt components, barred plagioclase with interstitial Fe-bearing phases, and glass with olivine dendrites, derived by melting of mainly plagioclase and mainly pyroxene, respectively. Rare silica particles contain coesite and/or quartz, and silica glass. The rock has experienced >50% melting, compatible with peak pressure >~65 GPa. It is the most highly shocked shergottite so far, at shock stage S6/7. It may belong to the group of depleted shergottites ejected at ~1 Myr from Tooting Crater.     

The release of energetic particles from the Sun

A model is developed to account for the release of solar cosmic rays from the Sun. The solar atmosphere out to 3–5 solar radii above the photosphere is permeated with magnetic field lines which trap low rigidity ( 50 MV) flare particles. Plasma heated by the flare process disturbs the trapping field, and not until the disturbance reaches 3–5 solar radii can the low rigidity flare particles have access to interplanetary space. If the plasma is not heated sufficiently to overcome the coronal field, flare particles are trapped, efficiently. Subsequent leakage of these particles into interplanetary space forms corotating streams. Reference is made to satellite observations of solar electromagnetic radiation and charged particles.     

Dust ring formation due to ice sublimation of radially drifting dust particles under the Poynting-Robertson effect in debris disks

In a disk with a low optical depth, dust particles drift radially inward by the Poynting-Robertson (P-R) drag rather than are blown out by stellar radiation pressure following destructive collisions. We investigate the radial distribution of icy dust composed of pure ice and refractory materials in dust-debris disks taking into account the P-R drag and ice sublimation. We find that icy dust particles form a dust ring by their pile-ups at the edge of their sublimation zone, where they sublime substantially at the temperature 100-110 K. The distance of the dust ring is 20-35 AU from the central star with its luminosity L_??30L_⊙ and 65(L_?/100L_⊙)^1/2 AU for L_??30L_⊙, where L_⊙ is the solar luminosity. The effective optical depth is enhanced by a factor of 2 for L_??100L_⊙ and more than 10 for L_??100L_⊙. The optical depth of the outer icy dust disk exceeds that of the inner disk filled with refractory particles, namely, the residue of ice sublimation, which are further subjected to the P-R effect. As a result, an inner hole is formed inside the sublimation zone together with a dust ring along the outer edge of the hole.     

Dynamics of Dust Particles of Different Structure: Application to the Modeling of Dust Motion in the Vicinity of the Nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

We consider the estimates of the main forces acting on dust particles near a cometary nucleus. On the basis of these estimates, the motion of dust particles of different structure and mass is analyzed. We consider the following forces: (1) the cometary nucleus gravity, (2) the solar radiation pressure, and (3) the drag on dust particles by a flow of gas produced in the sublimation of cometary ice. These forces are important for modeling the motion of dust particles relative to the cometary nucleus and may substantially influence the dust transfer over its surface. In the simulations, solid silicate spheres and homogeneous ballistic aggregates are used as model particles. Moreover, we propose a technique to build hierarchic aggregates—a new model of quasi-spherical porous particles. A hierarchic type of aggregates makes it possible to model rather large dust particles, up to a millimeter in size and larger, while no important requirements for computer resources are imposed. We have shown that the properties of such particles differ from those of classical porous ballistic aggregates, which are usually considered in the cometary physics problems, and considering the microscopic structure of particles is of crucial significance for the analysis of the observational data. With the described models, we study the dust dynamics near the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko at an early stage of the Rosetta probe observations when the comet was approximately at 3.2 AU from the Sun. The interrelations between the main forces acting on dust aggregates at difference distances from the nucleus have been obtained. The dependence of the velocity of dust aggregates on their mass has been found. The numerical modeling results and the data of spaceborne observations with the Grain Impact Analyzer and Dust Accumulator (GIADA) and the Cometary Secondary Ion Mass Analyzer (COSIMA) onboard the Rosetta probe are compared at a quantitative level.     

Interplanetary dust particles: Disintegration and orbital motion

Abrupt or gradual disintegration of the interplanetary dust particle causes increase of its distance from the Sun due to the solar radiation pressure. The problem of the orbital evolution of the interplanetary dust particles under such disintegration processes is discussed. The process of gradual disintegration due to the solar wind particles is calculated in detail. Obtained results represent corrections to the changes of orbital elements for the Poynting-Robertson effect and effect of the solar wind.     

Interaction of relativistic dust grains with the solar radiation field

The effects of the solar radiation field on the propagation of relativistic dust grains are evaluated. It is concluded that relativistic iron grains with energies 10¹⁹ eV will melt in the solar radiation field before they reach the Earth's orbit around the Sun. However iron grains with lower energies will reach the Earth's orbit but grains travelling from the direction of the Sun will melt. This directional anisotropy or fingerprint may be used to search for relativistic dust grains in the primary cosmic rays. The fact that no significant solar system anisotropy has been detected places constraints on the hypothesis that the initiating particles of the extensive air showers are relativistic iron grains.     

The New Peruvian Meteorite Carancas: Mössbauer Spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffraction Studies

The Carancas meteorite fell on 15 September 2007 approximately 10 km south of Desaguadero, near Lake Titicaca, Peru, producing bright lights, clouds of dust in the sky and intense detonations. The Carancas meteorite is classified as a H4–5 ordinary chondrite with shock stage S3 and a degree of weathering W0. The Carancas meteorite is characterized by well defined chondrules composed either of olivine or pyroxene. The Mössbauer spectra show an overlapping of paramagnetic and magnetic phases. The spectra show two quadrupole doublets associated to olivine and pyroxene; and two magnetic sextets, associated with the primary phases kamacite/taenite and Troilite (Fe²⁺). Metal particles were extracted from the bulk powdered samples exhibit only kamacite and small amounts of the intergrowth tetrataenite/antitaenite. X-Ray diffractogram shows the primary phases olivine, pyroxene, troilite, kamacite, diopside and albite. Iron oxides has not been detected by Mössbauer spectroscopy or XRD as can be expected for a meteorite immediately recovered after its fall.     

Dynamical zodiacal cloud models constrained by high resolution spectroscopy of the zodiacal light

The simulated Doppler shifts of the solar Mg I Fraunhofer line produced by scattering on the solar light by asteroidal, cometary, and trans-neptunian dust particles are compared with the shifts obtained by Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) spectrometer. The simulated spectra are based on the results of integrations of the orbital evolution of particles under the gravitational influence of planets, the Poynting-Robertson drag, radiation pressure, and solar wind drag. Our results demonstrate that the differences in the line centroid position in the solar elongation and in the line width averaged over the elongations for different sizes of particles are usually less than those for different sources of dust. The deviation of the derived spectral parameters for various sources of dust used in the model reached maximum at the elongation (measured eastward from the Sun) between 90° and 120°. For the future zodiacal light Doppler shifts measurements, it is important to pay a particular attention to observing at this elongation range. At the elongations of the fields observed by WHAM, the model-predicted Doppler shifts were close to each other for several scattering functions considered. Therefore the main conclusions of our paper do not depend on a scattering function and mass distribution of particles if they are reasonable. A comparison of the dependencies of the Doppler shifts on solar elongation and the mean width of the Mg I line modeled for different sources of dust with those obtained from the WHAM observations shows that the fraction of cometary particles in zodiacal dust is significant and can be dominant. Cometary particles originating inside Jupiter's orbit and particles originating beyond Jupiter's orbit (including trans-neptunian dust particles) can contribute to zodiacal dust about 1/3 each, with a possible deviation from 1/3 up to 0.1-0.2. The fraction of asteroidal dust is estimated to be ∼0.3-0.5. The mean eccentricities of zodiacal particles located at 1-2 AU from the Sun that better fit the WHAM observations are between 0.2 and 0.5, with a more probable value of about 0.3.     

Comet Grains: Their IR Emission and Their Relation to ISm Grains

Comets and the chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles (CP IDPs) that they shed in their comae are reservoirs of primitive solar nebula materials. The high porosity and fragility of cometary grains and CP IDPs, and anomalously high deuterium contents of highly fragile, pyroxene-rich Cluster IDPs imply these aggregate particles contain significant abundances of grains from the interstellar medium (ISM). IR spectra of comets (3–40 μm) reveal the presence of a warm (near-IR) featureless emission modeled by amorphous carbon grains. Broad andnarrow resonances near 10 and 20 microns are modeled by warm chondritic (50% Feand 50% Mg) amorphous silicates and cooler Mg-rich crystalline silicate minerals, respectively. Cometary amorphous silicates resonances are well matched by IRspectra of CP IDPs dominated by GEMS (0.1 μm silicate spherules) that are thought to be the interstellar Fe-bearing amorphous silicates produced in AGB stars. Acid-etched ultramicrotomed CP IDP samples, however, show that both the carbon phase (amorphous and aliphatic) and the Mg-rich amorphous silicate phase in GEMS are not optically absorbing. Rather, it is Fe and FeS nanoparticles embedded in the GEMS that makes the CP IDPs dark. Therefore, CP IDPs suggest significant processing has occurred in the ISM. ISM processing probably includes in He⁺ ion bombardment in supernovae shocks. Laboratory experiments show He⁺ ion bombardment amorphizes crystalline silicates, increases porosity, and reduces Fe into nanoparticles. Cometary crystalline silicate resonances are well matched by IR spectra of laboratory submicron Mg-rich olivine crystals and pyroxene crystals. Discovery of a Mg-pure olivine crystal in a Cluster IDP with isotopically anomalous oxygen indicates that a small fraction of crystalline silicates may have survived their journey from AGB stars through the ISM to the early solar nebula. The ISM does not have enough crystalline silicates (<5%), however, to account for the deduced abundance of crystalline silicates in comet dust. An insufficient source of ISMMg-rich crystals leads to the inference that most Mg-rich crystals in comets are primitive grains processed in the early solar nebula prior to their incorporation into comets. Mg-rich crystals may condense in the hot (～1450 K), inner zones of the early solar nebula and then travel large radial distances out to the comet-forming zone. On the other hand, Mg-rich silicate crystals may be ISM amorphous silicates annealed at ～1000 K and radially distributed out to the comet-forming zone or annealed in nebular shocks at ～5-10 AU. Determining the relative abundance of amorphous and crystalline silicatesin comets probes the relative contributions of ISM grains and primitive grains to small, icy bodies in the solar system. The life cycle of dust from its stardust origins through the ISM to its incorporation into comets is discussed.