PIA02189: Slice of Comet Dust
This image illustrates one of several ways scientists have begun extracting comet particles from NASA'a Stardust spacecraft's collector. First, a particle and its track are cut out of the collector material, called aerogel.
 Mission:  Stardust 
 Spacecraft:  Stardust
 Product Size:  720 x 540 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  University of California 
Berkeley 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA02189.tif (1.168 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA02189.jpg (39 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

This image illustrates one of several ways scientists have begun extracting comet particles from the Stardust spacecraft's collector. First, a particle and its track are cut out of the collector material, called aerogel, in a wedge-shaped slice called a keystone. A specialized silicon pickle fork is then used to remove the keystone from the remaining aerogel for further analysis.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of California, Berkeley

Image Addition Date:
2006-02-21