Each day we feature a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Chemical analyses of interplanetary dust particles similar to this one suggest that some of them may be bits of comets and represent samples of material from the early stages of the formation of the Solar System. NASA's Stardust mission , planned for launch in 1999, will attempt to directly collect dust from the tail of a comet and return it to Earth.
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