"Carbon compounds in interplanetary dust: evidence for formation by heterogeneous catalysts."

In: Science, Vol. 223, 6 January 1984. Washington, D.C.:: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1984., 1984. 4to. Pages 56-57. [Entire issue: 98 pp.] 2 figs. Pictorial wrappers. Very good. FIRST EDITION. Reports finding carbonaceous material in association with iron-nickel alloy, carbides, and oxides in interplanetary dust particles. The carbides and oxides are typical of the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. "Associations of carbonaceous material with iron-nickel alloy, carbides, and oxides were identified by analytical electron microscopy in ten unmelted chondritic porous micrometeorites from the earth's stratosphere. These associations, which (truncated) may be interpreted in terms of reactions between a carbon-containing gas and catalytically active dust grains, suggest that some of the carbon in the chondritic porous subset of interplanetary dust was emplaced through heterogeneous catalysis." (Inventory #: S6917)