1.   Aromatic hydrocarbons have been found in particles of interstellar dust, as well as in certain meteorites.

2.   Before the Explorer was launched, astronomers had long believed the interstellar dust and gas filling all galaxies would prove impenetrable to instruments operating at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths.

3.   Called Spartan, the spacecraft was deployed Tuesday for free-flying observations of interstellar dust and gas.

4.   The debris becomes the stuff of interstellar dust, new planets and life itself.

5.   Astronomers peek behind obscuring curtain of interstellar dust.

6.   On the other side will be the much younger interstellar dust gathered by the spacecraft a few years earlier.

7.   The news was announced Tuesday by astronomers who are surveying the sky with telescopes that detect heat emitted from stars and galaxies hidden from view by interstellar dust.

8.   The spacecraft already will have gathered interstellar dust while circling the sun en route to the comet.

9.   This time, NASA is going after comet and interstellar dust.