Interpretation of Wild 2 dust fine structure: Comparison of Stardust aluminum foil craters to the three‐dimensional shape of experimental impacts by artificial aggregate particles and meteorite powders

Abstract— New experimental results show that Stardust crater morphology is consistent with interpretation of many larger Wild 2 dust grains being aggregates, albeit most of low porosity and therefore relatively high density. The majority of large Stardust grains (i.e. those carrying most of the cometary dust mass) probably had density of 2.4 g cm^?3 (similar to soda‐lime glass used in earlier calibration experiments) or greater, and porosity of 25% or less, akin to consolidated carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, and much lower than the 80% suggested for fractal dust aggregates. Although better size calibration is required for interpretation of the very smallest impacting grains, we suggest that aggregates could have dense components dominated by μm‐scale and smaller sub‐grains. If porosity of the Wild 2 nucleus is high, with similar bulk density to other comets, much of the pore space may be at a scale of tens of micrometers, between coarser, denser grains. Successful demonstration of aggregate projectile impacts in the laboratory now opens the possibility of experiments to further constrain the conditions for creation of bulbous (Type C) tracks in aerogel, which we have observed in recent shots. We are also using mixed mineral aggregates to document differential survival of pristine composition and crystalline structure in diverse finegrained components of aggregate cometary dust analogues, impacted onto both foil and aerogel under Stardust encounter conditions.     

Laboratory experiments to study supersonic astrophysical flows interacting with clumpy environments

A wide variety of objects in the universe drive supersonic outflows through the interstellar medium which is often highly clumpy. These inhomogeneities affect the morphology of the shocks that are generated. The hydrodynamics are difficult to model as the problem is inherently 3D and the clumps are subject to a variety of fluid instabilities as they are accelerated and destroyed by the shock. Over the last two years, we have been carrying out experiments at the University of Rochester’s Omega laser to address the interaction of a dense-plasma jet with a localised density perturbation. More recently, we have turned our attention to the interaction of a shock wave with a spherical particle. We use a 1.6-mm diameter, 1.2-mm length Omega hohlraum to drive a composite plastic ablator (which includes bromine to prevent M-band radiation from preheating the experiment). The ablator acts as a “piston” driving a shock into 0.3 g?cm^?3 foam containing a 0.5-mm diameter sapphire sphere. We radiograph along two orthogonal lines of sight, using nickel or zinc pinhole-apertured X-ray backlighters, to study the subsequent hydrodynamics. We present initial experimental results and two-dimensional simulations of the experiment.     

Interstellar heliospheric probe/heliospheric boundary explorer mission—a mission to the outermost boundaries of the solar system

The Sun, driving a supersonic solar wind, cuts out of the local interstellar medium a giant plasma bubble, the heliosphere. ESA, jointly with NASA, has had an important role in the development of our current understanding of the Suns immediate neighborhood. Ulysses is the only spacecraft exploring the third, out-of-ecliptic dimension, while SOHO has allowed us to better understand the influence of the Sun and to image the glow of interstellar matter in the heliosphere. Voyager 1 has recently encountered the innermost boundary of this plasma bubble, the termination shock, and is returning exciting yet puzzling data of this remote region. The next logical step is to leave the heliosphere and to thereby map out in unprecedented detail the structure of the outer heliosphere and its boundaries, the termination shock, the heliosheath, the heliopause, and, after leaving the heliosphere, to discover the true nature of the hydrogen wall, the bow shock, and the local interstellar medium beyond. This will greatly advance our understanding of the heliosphere that is the best-known example for astrospheres as found around other stars. Thus, IHP/HEX will allow us to discover, explore, and understand fundamental astrophysical processes in the largest accessible plasma laboratory, the heliosphere.     

Numerical Simulations and Astrophysical Applications of Laboratory Jets at Omega

We have conducted experiments on the Omega laser at the University of Rochester that have produced jets of supersonic Ti impacting and being deflected by a ball of high density plastic. These mm-sized jets of dense plasma are highly complex, have large Reynolds numbers, and, given sufficient time and shear, should produce a fully turbulent flow. The experiments are diagnosed with a point-projection backlighter, resulting in a single image per shot. Simulations of the 3D hydrodynamics capture the large-scale features of the experimental data fairly well while missing some of the smaller scale turbulent-like phenomena. This is to be expected given the limited characterization of the targets as well as the finite resolution of the 3D simulations. If Euler scaling holds, these experiments should model larger astrophysical jets in objects such as HH 110 where an outflow can be seen colliding with a molecular cloud. However, Euler scaling demands that not only the isothermal internal Mach numbers of the two systems be similar but also that any dissipative mechanisms, such as radiative cooling or viscous dissipation, be of equal importance relative to each other. Similar equations of state are required as well. We discuss such issues in the context of these experiments and simulations.     

Recapturing quality field experiences and strengthening teaching–research links

Because of unwieldy numbers, and in an attempt to strengthen teaching–research links, the teaching team of 'Field Research Methods' discarded a class fieldtrip in favour of more flexible fieldwork. The new approach continues to use inquiry-based learning but has research problems more closely linked to staff interests. Students are responsible for most aspects of the research process including some logistical planning of fieldwork. Although often anxious at first, students welcomed this approach and appreciated the host of transferable and research skills they developed. Tutors benefited from the enhanced learning outcomes for students and a strengthening of teaching–research links.     

A record of Lateglacial and early Holocene environmental and ecological change from southwestern Connecticut,USA

Analyses of a sediment core from Highstead Swamp in southwestern Connecticut, USA, reveal Lateglacial and early Holocene ecological and hydrological changes. Lateglacial pollen assemblages are dominated by Picea and Pinus subg. Pinus, and the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) cold interval is evidenced by higher abundance of Abies and Alnus viridis subsp. crispa. As climate warmed at the end of the YD, Picea and Abies declined and Pinus strobus became the dominant upland tree species. A shift from lacustrine sediment to organic peat at the YD–Holocene boundary suggests that the lake that existed in the basin during the Lateglacial interval developed into a swamp in response to reduced effective moisture. A change in wetland vegetation from Myrica gale to Alnus incana subsp. rugosa and Sphagnum is consistent with this interpretation of environmental changes at the beginning of the Holocene. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anorthositic lunar regolith breccia Dhofar 1769—Clear indications for repeated mixing of impact melt lithologies

The lunar regolith breccia Dhofar 1769, which was found in 2012 as a single 125 g piece in the Zufar desert area of Oman, contains a relatively large, dark-colored impact melt breccia embedded in a fine-grained clastic matrix. The internal texture of the fragment indicates the repeated melt breccia formation on the lunar surface, their repeated brecciation, and mixing in second, third, and fourth generations of brecciated rock types. The chemical and mineralogical data reveal the incorporation of a feldspar-rich subophitic crystalline melt within a feldspar-rich microporphyritic crystalline melt breccia. This lithic paragenesis itself is embedded within a mafic, crystalline melt breccia. The entire breccia with the three different impact melts has been finally incorporated into the whole rock breccia. The three impact melts are mixtures of different source rocks and impact projectiles, based on the obtained minor and trace element compositions (in particular of Ni and the rare earth elements [REE]) of the impact melt lithologies. For all processes of impact melt formation, additional steps of their brecciation and re-lithification require a minimum number of seven impact processes.     

Constraining the degree of the dominant mode in QQ Vir

We present early results of the application of a method which uses multicolor photometry and spectroscopy for ? discrimination. This method has been successfully applied to the pulsating hot subdwarf Balloon?090100001. Here we apply the method to QQ?Vir (PG1325+101). This star was observed spectroscopically and photometrically in 2008. Details on spectroscopy can be found in Telting et al. (Astrophys. Space Sci. 2010, this volume), while photometry and preliminary results on ? discrimination are provided here. The main aim of this work was to compare the value of the ? parameter derived for the main mode in QQ?Vir to previously published values derived by using different methods.     

Ethnohistoric and Geoarchaeological Landscape Chronology at Kawaihae,Leeward Hawai‘i Island

The royal court of the Kamehameha Dynasty in Kawaihae, Hawai‘i Island, presents an unequalled opportunity to examine the ethnohistoric rendering of a cultural landscape, in comparison to the geoarchaeological record of physical transformation of this same landscape. Beneath the surface, earlier occupation layers predate the historic royal precinct of the A.D. 1790s through 1820s. Drawing on results of 19 controlled excavations, point‐specific cultural activities are situated within the last several centuries of natural terrain formation, beginning A.D. 1200–1400 and ending A.D. 1830–present. Geoarchaeological excavations provide the means to place the stratified cultural deposits, occupational horizons, and activity areas in the context of depositional history, environmental transformation, and changing social circumstances in a continuous sequence. The material‐based geoarchaeological landscape chronology and the ethnohistorically defined cultural landscape are combined for a more holistic view than either one could provide independently.     

Correlation of environmental and cultural chronology in New Caledonia

A case study in New Caledonia explores the changes in the natural and cultural setting at the end of the Lapita period in the first millennium B.C. After the mid‐Holocene highstand, sea level fell about 1.5 m, thereby enlarging coastal plains, altering previous mangrove and marshy settings, and transforming nearshore marine environments. Many of these changes occurred gradually over several centuries, but the termination of finely decorated Lapita pottery coincided with the first signs of loss of coastal habitat optimal for marine‐based horticulturalists in the first millennium B.C. Organized village compounds and extensively cultivated landscapes emerged much later, in the first millennium A.D. The results suggest that, although the Lapita phenomenon represents the founding ancestry of Oceanic societies, it also represents the end of an era and way of life that eventually could not be maintained in a changing world. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.