PIA02188: Making Celestial Tracks


Making Celestial Tracks

Caption:

This image shows the tracks left by two comet particles after they impacted the Stardust spacecraft's comet dust collector. The collector is made up of a low-density glass material called aerogel. Scientists have begun extracting comet particles from these and other similar tadpole-shaped tracks.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target 81P/Wild
System Periodic Comets
Target Type Comet
Mission Stardust
Instrument Host Stardust
Host Type Sample Return
Instrument
Detector
Extra Keywords Comet, Dust, Grayscale, Impact
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2006-10-19
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Washington
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02188
Identifier PIA02188