Characterization of preserved primitive fine-grained material from the Jupiter family comet 81P/Wild 2 – A new link between comets and CP-IDPs

We report the presence of preserved primitive fine-grained material containing an enstatite whisker with the crystallographic characteristics of a primary condensate in a sample of the Jupiter-family comet Wild 2, returned to earth by NASAʼs Stardust mission. The preserved primitive material is comp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earth and planetary science letters 2014-02, Vol.388, p.367-373
Main Authors: Stodolna, Julien, Gainsforth, Zack, Butterworth, Anna L., Westphal, Andrew J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
comet dust
Comets
Condensates
Earth
electron microscopy
Enstatite
interplanetary dust particles
Links
NASA
pyroxene
Silicates
Stardust
Sulfides
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Summary:We report the presence of preserved primitive fine-grained material containing an enstatite whisker with the crystallographic characteristics of a primary condensate in a sample of the Jupiter-family comet Wild 2, returned to earth by NASAʼs Stardust mission. The preserved primitive material is composed of silica-rich amorphous material embedded with iron sulfides and silicates. It is in close association with a type II chondrule-like object in the track C2052,2,74 (Ogliore et al., 2012). The close association of a chondrule and a primary condensate shows they must have formed in different environments and probably met in the comet-forming region. The first observation of an enstatite whisker with properties indicating primary condensation in a comet is a new link between comets and Chondritic Porous IDPs (CP-IDPs). •We report the presence of a primitive condensate in the comet Wild 2.•We show comet Wild 2 is linked with CP-IDPs.•We show that primitive fine-grained material could meet chondrule-like objects in outer Solar System.
ISSN:0012-821X
1385-013X
DOI:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.12.018