From Dust Astrophysics Towards Dust Mineralogy — A Historical Review -- Formation and Evolution of Minerals in Accretion Disks and Stellar Outflows -- The Mineralogy of Interstellar and Circumstellar Dust -- The Mineralogy of Cometary Dust -- The In-situ Study of Solid Particles in the Solar System -- The Astromineralogy of Interplanetary Dust Particles -- The Most Primitive Material in Meteorites -- Laboratory Astrophysics of Cosmic Dust Analogues.

Astromineralogy deals with the science of gathering mineralogical information from the astronomical spectroscopy of asteroids, comets and dust in the circumstellar environments in general. It is only recently, however, that this field has received a tremendous boost with the reliable identification of minerals by the Infrared Space Observatory. This book is the first comprehensive and coherent account of this exciting field. Beyond addressing the specialist in the field, the book is intended as a high-level but readable introduction to astromineralogy for both the nonspecialist researcher and the advanced student.