ion microprobe

Ernst K. Zinner, Ph.D., research professor of physics and of earth and planetary sciences, both in Arts & Sciences, at Washington University in St. Louis, provided an overview of the study of “Stardust in the Laboratory” Monday, Feb. 20, 2006, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), held in St. Louis. He also participated in the AAAS “Exploring a Dusty Cosmos” press briefing that morning.

Christine Floss, Ph.D., and Frank Stadermann, Ph.D., examine data on the NanoSIMS in Compton Hall.A collaborative team of researchers including two from WUSTL have discovered what turns the lights out from space. They have discovered that organic carbon and amorphous silicates in interstellar grains embedded within interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) are the carriers of the astronomical 2175 Å extinction line, which occurs at a wavelength of 2175 Angstroms and blocks starlight from reaching the Earth.