Hi All,jsmaje wrote:Crazy stuff! I’m a bit hazy as to the material (? aluminium) and how thick the partition between the cometary and interstellar particle sides of the collector were. I guess that to have penetrated through the first into the second and created a ‘reverse-track’ must surely imply something fairly hefty – a particularly heavy cometary particle or random metallic micrometeorite, or perhaps deflected material from some opposite-surface of the spacecraft?DanZ wrote:Okay, don't be paranoid. This is a "track," but it came up through the aerogel from the OTHER SIDE!
Or, might such a ‘reverse track’ have occurred due to a not-quite-head-on IS particle impacting close to (as is common ) a distorted/amorphous edge of the aerogel tile (therefore unlikely to leave a clear initial track), but then bouncing back from the rear surface before leaving a recognisable trace?
Just a wild thought!
John
I inquired again about this track, and got the same answer. However, it was pointed out to me this time that even though it is an apparent "reverse" track, that doesn't mean it definitely came through the partition between the cometary and interstellar sides of the collector (and probably didn't). At this point, it could be anything, even something created when the aerogel was inserted into this particular cell. If more info becomes available, I will post. But for now, we're planning on removing it as a PM.
Dan