Stardust@home

Today, April 20, 2015, at Ceres_bright_spots_come_back : “The two brightest spots on dwarf planet Ceres, which have fascinated scientists for months, are back in view in the newest images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft”. They look just as prominent as before to me, but still no clues yet as to their ca...

Thanks to Dr Croft for the further info and references. I clearly gave the wrong impression in my previous mail by implying that the physical mechanisms of astronomical light polarisation haven’t and weren’t still being well-enough studied, although uncertainties apparently remain according to the 2...

Far from there having been 100 pages of Dr Croft’s references as I mistakenly said, there were in fact only 10. I must have inadvertently instructed my printer to make 10 copies of them. Anyhow, they did not fully answer my queries, and by further reading, for example http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/pape...

I couldn't join the Telecon, but am grateful for Evelyn's and Mike's summaries. Re the dunes on 67P, this is from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30931445 : The researchers report some fascinating behaviours over and above the expected sight of jets of gas and dust hurtling away from t...

Thanks Dan, and to Dr Croft. Given the near-enough 100 pages of the links he provided, it will take me some time to digest it all before
deciding if I'm then any the wiser!
John

DanZ wrote: I'm going to run this by someone in the Astronomy Department and see if I can get an answer for you there. Standby. Dan

Roger, wilco. John

Dan, you are welcome to discuss my questions on the Telecon, but I'll not be able to participate, since I'll be driving on my way to a meeting in Cambridge at that time (and I don't have any of those various i-whatsits). If they can be posed by proxy, and there are any useful replies, perhaps you co...

As summarised in this article amongst many, it seems that interstellar (intragalactic) dust may well have confounded the CMB polarisation signal detected by the Antarctic BICEP 2 observatory, which at first sight was thought to provide evidence for gravitational waves, as predicted to have originate...

Thanks Dan and Andrew for the above, and I look forward to further news. Will the Philae data be able to distinguish elemental & isotopic profiles over depth that could reflect origins and timing? And given the interstellar Stardust results so far, is there any particular chemical signature that...

My question to the Berkeley team is that given the first of its bouncy landings on the comet Philae suggested the surface to be covered in about 4cm of dark dust (whether there is ice or rocky stuff below is yet to be determined), how much of such dust may only be the product of the comet's previou...

Hi everyone, I'm sure you'll be aware of the recent successful rendezvous and continuing close orbit (within a few kilometres) of the ESA ‘Rosetta’ spacecraft after a 10 year flight to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko while it approaches perihelion round the sun next year. Currently about 300 million...

I found this link to the Stardust Science paper if anyone is interested. Thanks cregger! The main article is an overview of what most dusters are already aware, but the Supplementary Materials provide a fascinating insight into the team's detailed thoroughness. The rest of the 12 even more detailed...

Mike, thanks for your reply. The 'Top 100' didn't take much time, but you're right. It didn't add any new information, and though of early interest, was visited by only one or two dusters during recent phases. I'd expected your response but felt I should ask. Good. I can now free up space for my lat...

Evelyn & Mike. Regarding lists of current dusters and their stats, would you find it of interest if I revive my ‘Top 100 stats’ site, providing a more graphic and interactive presentation of the raw data? If also interested in your and others skill score (as included in my previous graphs compar...

Hi Martin, Evelyn & Mike, Thanks for that link to the excellent NASA curator site. And yes - where’s the full list of current dusters? Also, why does the ’My Events’ page show the number of power movies missed without mention of those found? Not exactly encouraging. I too find navigating the sit...