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Stardust capsule returns to Earth


CrispyQ
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This is so cool!

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4614222.stm

 

snip...

 

A capsule containing dust collected from a comet and stars has landed on Earth after a seven-year space mission.

 

The US probe Stardust released the capsule as it flew past Earth after a 3 billion-mile (4.7 billion km) trip.

 

The capsule plunged through the atmosphere and touched down in the Utah desert at 0312 (1012 GMT).

 

Scientists believe the pristine particles snatched from a comet and interstellar space will give insights into the origins of the Solar System.

 

It is the first time in history that a space mission has brought back such material.

 

more...

 

The highlight of Stardust's seven-year mission was its close encounter with Comet Wild 2 in January 2004.

 

It swept up particles from the frozen body of ice and dust, as it flew to within 240km (149 miles).

 

As part of its trip, the probe also captured a sprinkling of dust that would have originated in distant stars.

 

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I love this kind of stuff!

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Ya, that is neat. The dust is supposed to be in the millions or billions of years old if I understood it correctly.

They also said the capsule went through our atmoshpere at 46,000 kms an hour, the fastest any of our space capsules/ships/satellites to date.That is fast.

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http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/background.html

 

We are seeking volunteers to help us to search for these tiny samples of matter from the galaxy. Volunteers are critical to the success of this project. Please help us find the first samples of contemporary Stardust ever collected.

 

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http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/challenge.html

 

...These impacts can only be found using a high-magnification microscope with a field of view smaller than a grain of salt. ...The job is roughly equivalent to searching for 45 ants in an entire football field, ...

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