NASA Mission STARDUST: Catching A Comet By The Tail

Richard N. Zare will describe what a team of over 175 scientists, from around the world, used to study samples from the comet Wild 2 retrieved by NASA's STARDUST spacecraft using a "cometary catcher's mitt." The samples reveal a great deal, not only about the composition of comets, but also provide key insights into the earliest history of our solar system.