In 2004 , a NASA ballistic capsule calledStardustcaptured the first ever samples from a comet , named Comet Wild 2 . It returned these samples to Earth in January 2006 – and new psychoanalysis of the samples is bring out what type of particles the ballistic capsule collected .
Stardust get together the samples by using blocks of an ultralight material called aerogel and flying through the tail assembly of the comet , with cometary particle impacting the gelatin at 21,600 kilometers per minute ( 13,420 miles per hour ) . utter at the227th meetingof the American Astronomical Society in Florida , student Amanda White from the American Museum of Natural History in New York – who is conducting novel inquiry on the sample – explained that examining the shape of the dents in the gel could give away new sixth sense into their ancestry .
" We can estimate the size of it of the original particle , just by looking at the entry hole of the track . But we intend we can do better than measuring the gob , " she told theBBC . " We essentially want to do the same thing as what they do in a crime show , when they ’re doing ballistic trajectory . "
The research is ongoing , and it ’s potential that the size , consistence , and composition of the original grains could be determine – contribute new insight on the comet itself . Most notably , icing and natural gas from the comet evaporated before it made it back to Earth . But the flesh of the impacts on the gelatin could suggest that some of these so - call volatile walk out it , hinting at the comet ’s composition .
Shown are some of the lead from comet dust particles in the aerogel . NASA
To make their finding , the squad is using aconfocal microscopeto recreate the sample in three-D , in addition to using a particle accelerator known as a synchrotron to value the chemical composition of the sample .
understand comet like this is key to improving our knowledge of the early Solar System . Wild 2 , which orbits between 1.592 and 5.308 AU ( astronomical units , 1 AU is the Earth - Sun distance ) formed 4.5 billion long time ago in a more upstage reach , but it was pulled into the internal Solar System by Jupiter in 1974 , render NASA an opportunity to explore it . Though designed to collect cometary particles , depth psychology of the samples has already revealed the presence ofinterstellar particles .
Other comets , like 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko , have provide information on the role of comet in the origin of the Solar System . Perhaps Wild 2 will also have a part to play .
The television below shows off one of the 3D recreations .
