- Glass with embedded metal and sulfides
Glass with Embedded Metal and Sulfides (GEMS) are tiny spheroids in
cosmic dust particles with bulk compositions that are approximately chondritic. They form the building blocks of anhydrous interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) in general, and "cometary" IDPs, in particular. Their compositions,mineralogy andpetrography appear to have been shaped by exposure to ionizing radiation. Since the exposure occurred prior to theaccretion of cometary IDPs, and therefore comets themselves, GEMS are likely eithersolar nebula or presolar interstellar grains. The properties of GEMS (size, shape, mineralogy) bear a strong resemblance to those of interstellarsilicate grains as inferred from astronomical observations (Bradley and Ireland, 1996).References
cite conference | author=Bradley, John and Ireland, Trevor, I,
title=The Search for InterstellarComponents in Interplanetary Dust Particles | booktitle=Physics, Chemistry, andDynamics of Interplanetary Dust, ASP Conference Series, Vol 104
year=1996| pages=275-282
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