High Resolution Phase Contrast X-ray Imaging of Cosmic Dust Captured in Aerogel

Abstract

The primary purpose of NASA?s Stardust mission is to sample cometarymaterial ejected from Comet 81P/Wild-2, a young Jupiter family. OnJanuary 2004, the spacecraft flew through the tail of the Comet Wild-2with its dedicated low-density silica aerogel array deployed. Estimatesfrom the spacecraft?s dust flux monitor instrument are that over2800 particles (<15 microns in diameter) impacted the aerogel at~ 6 km/s.