Stardust@home Project Brings Cosmic Dust to Your Desktop

Just heard about this on the Discovery Channel. Apparently they will even let you name the "dust" particles if you discovery any life. This might be fun.

www.space.com...

Finding a piece of the cosmos may be as easy as logging onto the Internet for amateur sleuths bent on aiding NASA’s Stardust mission

Today, however, Westphal and his colleagues will rely on an online “virtual microscope” that allows anyone with an Internet connection to sift through the anticipated 1.5 million aerogel images for interstellar dust tracks. Each image will cover an area smaller than a single grain of salt, researchers said.

Westphal estimates that some 30,000 man-hours will be required to go through each image from Stardust’s aerogel sample return capsule four times.




[edit on 16-1-2006 by valkeryie]

Already posted: NASA needs YOU!

Thread closed.