Red Barn Observatory MPC/IAU H68

Established 2006

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Stardust@home

http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu

If you're interested in joining the stardust@home Yahoo group →→stardustathome

stardust@home

Here is a Letter from the Project Director

Questions regarding the delay should be mailed to:  contact us

An interactive internet-based search for interstellar dust in the stardust aerogel collector.

Stardust@home is an Internet-based search where volunteers search, detect, and report dust grain impacts, collected from comet Wild 2, that originated from stars millions of light years away. The Stardust spacecraft safely returned back to Earth during the early morning of January 16, 2006 from its long journey back from comet Wild 2. A web-based virtual microscope will be made available to the public in mid-March and this will allow volunteers that have been trained and tested to search for, discover, and name their own star dust.   The Stardust@home Virtual Microscope is operated via a web browser. 

The Stardust@home program is scheduled to become available for use sometime in the month of April.  For more information and instructions on joining the search, follow the link above to the Stardust Web Site.  More information will be added to this page once the program begins...

Before you will be able to actually search the stardust images, you must complete a "on-line" test and complete a user registration.  To take the test and complete the registration procedure follow this link:  http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ss_test.php

If you want to join the stardust@home forum, follow this link:  http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/forum/index.php

Here is a sample screen shot of the stardust@home virtual microscope along with some information.

How to search for interstellar dust tracks

First, learn how to focus the microscope. It's easy: just move your mouse along the blue bar just to the right of the microscope viewer. Don't hold down any mouse or keyboard buttons.

Next, find the surface of the aerogel. It is easy to recognize: it has dust (not interstellar dust -- just dust that settled on it from the air!) and scratches. The actual Stardust collector will probably not be so dusty, but it will still be easy with a little experience to find the surface.

Next, focus just below the surface, and look for tracks. There is one in this focus movie.

Move the mouse cursor across the blue bars to change focus.

NEXT FOCUS MOVIE

Screenshots and information are credited to the Stardust@home program. http://stardustathome.ssl.berkely.edu

This two-micrometer comet particle, collected by the Stardust spacecraft,

is made up of the silicate mineral forsterite, which can found on Earth in

gemstones called peridot. Credit: NASA/JPL
 

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