Discovery of non-random spatial distribution of impacts
in the Stardust cometary collector
We report the discovery that impacts in the Stardust cometary collector are not distributed randomly in the collecting media, but appear to be clustered on scales smaller than ~10 cm. We also report the discovery of at least two populations of oblique tracks. We evaluated several hypotheses that could explain the observations. No hypothesis is consistent with all the observations, but the preponderance of evidence points toward at least one impact on the central Whipple shield of the spacecraft as the origin of both clustering and low-angle oblique tracks. High-angle oblique tracks unambiguously originate from a non-cometary impact on the spacecraft bus just forward of the collector.
Westphal et al. (2008) Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 43, 415-429.
Full publication: 2008_MAPS43_415.pdf
Last revised: 6-2008