August 17, 2014

The largest of the tracks of possible interstellar particle brought back by the Stardust space probe (Image UC Berkeley/Andrew Westphal)

A group of scientists who analyzed the samples returned to Earth in 2006 by NASA’s Stardust space probe may have found some particles of interstellar dust. The research, published in the journal “Science”, and other articles that will appear in the journal “Meteoritics & Planetary Science” concern the analyzes of the samples brought back by Stardust at the end of its primary mission, after the encounter with the comet Wild 2 during which it collected several grains of dust. The probe may have brought something more than expected.