For 4.5 billion years an object called 'Inti' ( for the Inca god of the sun ) was in deep freeze inside the comet 'Wild 2' as it circled out beyond Neptune. In January 2004, as Jupiter's gravity had pulled WIld 2 closer to the Sun, causing it to disintegrate in the sun's heat, a NASA spacecraft called 'Star-dust' passed it by and collected samples of the resulting dust specks. 'Inti' is one of those specks

The team analyzing Inti - the Stardust team at the University of Washington, led by Donald Brownlee - found that it had unexpected qualities. It contained materials that could only form near the new born sun, at temperatures of more than 3000 degrees fahrenheit. An object from the inner solar system was drifting out amongst the gas giants.

This is another development that furthers the idea, amongst astronomers and planetary scientists in recent generations, that the solar system was turned inside out during its infancy and was originally a much more active and violent place.