[meteorite-list] Public Will Get to Zoom in on Comet Dust on the Web (Stardust)

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3588080

Public will get to zoom in on comet dust on the Web
The Salt Lake Tribune
Greg Lavine
March 10, 2006

Now that scientists are working to analyze cometary samples from NASA's
Stardust mission, the general public will soon have a chance to lend a
hand. Known as Stardust at Home, the public outreach program will allow
participants to view "movies" through a virtual microscope on the Web to
search for tiny interstellar dust grains. The program was originally
scheduled to start March 1 but other mission priorities have delayed the
start by at least a month, said Andrew Westphal, program director at the
Space Sciences Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. The Stardust mission,
which landed in Utah's west desert in January, collected bits of a comet
as well as dust particles that came from other solar systems. Scientists
believe the comet particles are left over from the earliest days of our 
solar system. Details from the mission could answer questions about the solar
system's origins. Participants will use an on-line virtual microscope to
examine images recorded by an actual microscope to look for hints that
interstellar dust landed in the collector material. More information on
the program is available at stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu.