Aerogel tracks made by impacts of glycine: Implications for formation of bulbous tracks in aerogel and the Stardust mission |
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| Authors: | Adam NIXON Mark J BURCHELL Mark C PRICE Anton T KEARSLEY Steven JONES |
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| Institution: | 1. Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NH, UK;2. Department of Mineralogy, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK;3. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA |
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| Abstract: | Abstract– Impacts of small particles of soda‐lime glass and glycine onto low density aerogel are reported. The aerogel had a quality similar to the flight aerogels carried by the NASA Stardust mission that collected cometary dust during a flyby of comet 81P/Wild 2 in 2004. The types of track formed in the aerogel by the impacts of the soda‐lime glass and glycine are shown to be different, both qualitatively and quantitatively. For example, the soda‐lime glass tracks have a carrot‐like appearance and are relatively long and slender (width to length ratio <0.11), whereas the glycine tracks consist of bulbous cavities (width to length ratio >0.26). In consequence, the glycine particles would be underestimated in diameter by a factor of 1.7–3.2, if the glycine tracks were analyzed using the soda‐lime glass calibration and density. This implies that a single calibration for impacting particle size based on track properties, as previously used by Stardust to obtain cometary dust particle size, is inappropriate. |
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