Presolar diamonds in allende.

Imagine a star in its final stages of evolution that has expanded to become a red giant. In the outer atmosphere of this dying star, dust grains of nanometer (10{sup -7} cm) to micron (10{sup -4} cm) size start to condense. Now image, in another part of the galaxy, a star ends its life in a violent supernova explosion, expelling its gases in great outflows. As its gases expand and cool, small dust grains condense. The death of these stars results in the formation of star dust which is blown outward into interstellar space. There it mixes together and combines with interstellar gas clouds. The gravitational collapse of one of these dust laden gas clouds formed our solar system, and much of the initial star dust present was reprocessed by heat and its original form was completely destroyed. But could some star dust survive in its pristine form and still be present in our solar system? If so, where is it, and more importantly how do we recognize it? A study of this star dust could reveal information about the dying stars around which they formed and give us valuable information about our early solar system.