Stardust Update

Stardust capsule returns to Earth
By Helen Briggs BBC News science reporter

Watch the landing

A capsule containing comet particles and interstellar dust has landed on Earth after a seven-year space mission.

The Stardust probe released the capsule as it flew back to Earth after a 4.6-billion-km (2.8-billion-mile) trip.
The US-built capsule plunged through the atmosphere and touched down in the Utah desert at 0312 (1012 GMT).
Scientists believe the first cometary dust samples ever returned to Earth will shed light on the origins of the Solar System.

"We travelled about three billion miles in space, we visited a comet, grabbed a piece of it and it landed here on Earth this morning," Dr Don Brownlee, Stardust principal investigator, told reporters at a news briefing in Utah.

I fully expect textbooks in the future will have a lot of new information from the samples that landed here this morning."

It is amazing to think that such minute specks of dust can carry within them so much information about the origin of stars and planets
Prof Monica Grady, PSSRI

Fiery descent

The Stardust spacecraft released the 45kg (100lb) capsule at 0557 GMT as it looped past the Earth on its return from interplanetary space.

Mission controllers at the US space agency's (Nasa) Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, clapped and cheered as the capsule began its plunge to Earth.

Four hours after leaving the probe, the capsule entered the Earth's atmosphere 125km (410,000ft) over the Pacific Ocean.

It reached speeds of 46,660km/h (29,000mph) - the fastest re-entry of any manmade probe - and was visible from parts of the American northwest as a streak of light in the sky.

At about 32km altitude (105,000ft), the capsule released a small parachute to slow its descent.
The main parachute opened at about 3km (10,000ft), and brought the capsule down to land on a military base southwest of Salt Lake City.
"All stations, we have touchdown," an announcer declared to a jubilant control room.

First analysis

The capsule was located by helicopter almost an hour after the landing. It was then flown to a nearby laboratory for checks.

On Tuesday, it will be transported to a special lab at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where scientists will get their first chance to examine the precious contents.

I'm very confident we will have samples in there that are the first returned from beyond the Moon," former Stardust project manager, Ken Atkins, told the BBC News website.
"It is magnificent to see something that we saw leave the planet on 7 February 1999 return to the planet here on 15 January 2006."
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, flying to within 240km (149 miles) of the comet's core, or nucleus.
As part of its trip, the probe also captured a sprinkling of dust that originated in distant stars.
The Stardust mothership has now completed its main mission and has been sent into orbit around the Sun.

'Minute specks'

Stardust could provide a new window into the distant past
Dr Simon Green

Meanwhile the work of scientists is just beginning. On Tuesday, Nasa experts will open the canister containing the samples which is packed away inside a protective shell.

The capsule is believed to contain about a million particles of comet and interstellar dust left over from the birth of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.
They are trapped inside cells filled with an ultra-light solid called aerogel.
About 150 scientists around the world will get a chance to carry out a preliminary analysis of the contents, including researchers at the UK's Open University (OU).

Professor Monica Grady, of the OU's Planetary and Space Science Research Institute (PSSRI), said it would be the most scientifically exciting and technically challenging material with which they had ever had the opportunity to work.
"Imagine trying to pick up a grain that is less than a hundredth of the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence," she said.
"It is amazing to think that such minute specks of dust can carry within them so much information about the origin of stars and planets."

Time capsules

Comets are thought to be cosmic "time capsules", containing material unchanged since the formation of the Sun and planets.
Some even think they may have seeded Earth with the chemical building blocks required for life.

Stardust's mission: How Nasa's probe collected comet dust and will return it to Earth
In pictures"Stardust could provide a new window into the distant past," said Dr Simon Green of the PSSRI.
"Because these particles have come from inside a comet, we know that essentially the particles haven't been heated since they became part of the comet, because the comet is made of ice," he told the BBC News website.

"That means that they contain information about the conditions that were present when they were incorporated into the comet.
"That time was four-and-a-half thousand-million years ago, back when the Solar System formed; so what we hope to know from these particles is essentially what the Solar System looked like at that time, and essentially what we're all made of."

They're looking for 100,000 people to help with reading the pictures.


Recruits needed to sift stardust
By Helen Briggs BBC News science reporter

Members of the public are being asked to help study cosmic dust samples returned by the Stardust space mission.

A capsule containing dust from stars light years away landed in the Utah desert on Sunday.
The particles are buried in gel that was exposed to the interstellar dust stream during the probe's seven-year voyage around the Solar System.
Scientists need volunteers to sift through millions of pictures of the gel to locate the few dozen tiny grains.
The project, known as Stardust@home, has been set up by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.
"No-one has ever had a contemporary interstellar dust particle in the lab, ever, to study," senior fellow Andrew Westphal told the BBC News website. "It is really a unique opportunity."


Virtual microscope

Dr Westphal developed the technique that the US space agency (Nasa) will use to scan the ultra-light gel (aerogel) in which the interstellar dust grains are embedded.

The gel - which is contained within a "honeycomb" of collector trays - will be scanned by an automated microscope at a clean room in Nasa's Johnston Space Center in Houston shortly after landing.
The impacts are almost invisible and can only be found with a microscope with a field of view smaller than a grain of salt.
Volunteers will be able to access the images via a web-based "virtual microscope". To take part, they need a reasonably up-to-date computer with Netscape or Internet Explorer, patience and some spare time.
People who register will have to go through a web-based training session to see if they are suitable. Dr Westphal believes the untrained eye may be better at spotting what amounts to a cosmic needle in a haystack.
"It's probably better for people to look who won't have any pre-conceived notion of what these things look like," said Dr Westphal.

Naming opportunity


Scientists think they will find only a few dozen interstellar grains. More than 1.6 million individual fields of view will have to be searched over the course of several months.

A simulation of particles hitting aerogelOnce located, the particles will be extracted from the gel and analysed in research labs around the world.
"We will probably find the first grain within the first month," Dr Westphal said.
As well as the satisfaction of taking part in the space project, volunteers have another incentive - the chance to name any dust grains they find.
"There is a tradition in the interplanetary dust community that people name particles, usually those collected in the stratosphere by high flying aircraft," said Dr Westphal.
Examples to date included Florian and Benavente, he added.
Comet chase
Stardust's main mission was to chase a comet and capture material from its coma, the cloud of dust and gas that surrounds its nucleus.
But it also trapped a sprinkling of dust from the interstellar stream that flows through the Solar System.
The particles contain the heavy chemical elements that originated in stars.
"Ultimately, this is the stuff we are made of," said Dr Westphal.
"The fact that we really don't know what the typical interstellar grain looks like is outrageous - this is really a search for our own origins."

Scientists think they will find only a few dozen interstellar grains. More than 1.6 million individual fields of view will have to be searched over the course of several months.


Once located, the particles will be extracted from the gel and analysed in research labs around the world.
"We will probably find the first grain within the first month," Dr Westphal said.
As well as the satisfaction of taking part in the space project, volunteers have another incentive - the chance to name any dust grains they find.
"There is a tradition in the interplanetary dust community that people name particles, usually those collected in the stratosphere by high flying aircraft," said Dr Westphal.
Examples to date included Florian and Benavente, he added.
Comet chase
Stardust's main mission was to chase a comet and capture material from its coma, the cloud of dust and gas that surrounds its nucleus.
But it also trapped a sprinkling of dust from the interstellar stream that flows through the Solar System.
The particles contain the heavy chemical elements that originated in stars.

"Ultimately, this is the stuff we are made of," said Dr Westphal.

"The fact that we really don't know what the typical interstellar grain looks like is outrageous - this is really a search for our own origins."

BBC NEWS: VIDEO AND AUDIO See footage of the Stardust capsule returning to earth
SEE ALSO:
Stardust capsule set for return 14 Jan 06 Science/Nature
Stardust targets lightning return 22 Dec 05 Science/Nature
Comet shakes conventional wisdom 07 Sep 05 Science/Nature
Detailed picture of comet's heart 22 Mar 04 Science/Nature
Rosetta probe heads for comet 02 Mar 04 Science/Nature
Comet dust packed away for Earth 08 Jan 04 Science/Nature
Stardust probe makes comet flyby 02 Jan 04 Science/Nature
RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
Stardust
Comets


Thanks to BBC for the story and the links.

I think this is interesting stuff, stardust and all that. I registered to participate in the sifting. Sounds cool. They give you a virtual microscope on your puter then you look for stardust. I think I'd like to parcipate in that. That's the kind of science I approve of.
This will be a newsie blog for a while. My thoughts are to erratic to post. And I'm hurting. Know the song 'sometimes i feel like a motherless child'? Well, I do. And I am.

What is going on in Israel and the entire Middle East is too mind boggling. Especially this business with Iran and the nuclear weapons. Isn't anybody going to do anything? Or are we going to blow it all up? From what I can suss, Olmert, who now all of a sudden is here, while Ariel Sharon is not, is letting the US dictate Israel's politics. Yikes.
This is from http://www.israelnationalnews.com

Olmert Puts Roadmap at Forefront of Israeli Policy

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated Israel’s support for the U.S. backed Road Map initiative for the Arab-Israeli dispute at a meeting Tuesday with President Moshe Katzav.

Regarding the possibility of negotiating with the Hamas, Katzav said, after meeting with Olmert that “there is no basis or capacity to negotiate with one who does not recognize our right to exist, even

On the issue of Iran, Olmert said, “I believe that there is a way to ensure that non-conventional weapons don’t wind up in irresponsible hands which can threaten world peace.”

Olmert, formerly of the Likud, now heads the Kadima party, founded a few months ago by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, before he was incapacitated with a debilitating stroke. Regarding demonstrations by Jewish residents in Hevron, Olmert said he will act the way he believes Sharon would have. “I’ll do what I think Arik Sharon would have done…so there will be no hesitation,” he said. “Whoever raises a hand against security personnel, a soldier or policeman, will be punished with all available force, and will be expelled from any place he illegally occupies. This is right regarding Hevron, right regarding Amona (a Jewish community near Ofra), and it’s right in relation to other places.”

I don't like the sound of that. A New Leader has not emerged. Israel is following, not leading. Oh well.

A blogger friend of mine did a fabulous post on Martin Luther King Jr. http://willpowers-cerebytes.blogspot.com/. It took me back and made me think. That's an example of no leader emerging. After Martin Luther King Jr. was taken out, no leader emerged. There still isn't a leader for the Negro Nation. Nor has one emerged for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. No leaders. Just followers. Who is making these policies? I don't even want to think about that. But as everything is running at the speed of synchronization, so the times of change will be planted and the seeds sown.

Everybody seems to agree that something's up.

My musing brains says, la plus qui change, la plus c'est la meme chose.

Ontogency recapitulates philogeny.

Where are we Really?

Good Daily Dose:

B"H

Where Will I Be?

It will happen with you or without you, whether you believe in it or not. True, you could help it be sooner. But the fact is, it will be in our times whether you help or not. And it will be good for you, no matter what.But have you asked yourself, "Where will I be standing when that time comes? What will I be involved in? Will I be part of it, or will it be despite me?"

Interesting. Because when I'm being a student of kabbalah and Torah, instead of a raging maniac, I see the same . The quantum resonating. I think it is a good energy to tap into. In the meantime, I'm into that raging maniac mode. I'm also in terrible pain, as my back went into spasm yesterday.

peace your peace, pausing as your soul seeks -speaking whilst silent -and the world rages as the ions meld into all and nothing. the world ends not with a bang, but with a whimper.

i grow old i grow old i shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. (T.S. Eliot - The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock)

.....