"I think I've found a track, what do you think?" A

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Sebastian
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Location: Berlin, Germany

Post by Sebastian »

Take a look at this movie
http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ ... e_id=41978

You can recognize the surface beeing right at or slightly above the topmost image. If you dive deeper into the gel you see all particles on the surface go out of focus. For small particles, this is a circle widening the deeper you go into the gel.

But very soon you will recognze that there are four circles narrowing and getting more and more contrast. Finally you might recognize three small spots in focus.

Maybe these spots are just bubbles in the aerogel. Or maybe they are slow particles and not the ones we are looking for. But who of us can know that just by viewing the movie?

Remember the motto: "Expect the unexpected"
Whatever you have seen in the training and in the calibration movies is not what the real thing will look like.

So you definitely should mark these tracks to allow further investigation.

Now imagine the surface would not have been right on top of the movie. You would only see some narrowing circles and you would never reach the actual focus point. Should you mark these findings? Yes, you should.
cthiker
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Location: Woodbridge, CT

Post by cthiker »

Damien -
Looks like you've done some homework! Good job! :D

Whether I think this is or is not space dust is not important...your enthusiasm is!! I only wish you were able to get the credit for finding it, regardless of the outcome. I saw a similar movie early on and did not identify it, but I might do so if I come across another, especially considering your insightful argument.

No matter - best of luck and here's to hoping that the "Damien" particle is out there awaiting you!! :wink:
cldrjones2
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Post by cldrjones2 »

tracks are visible only below the surface. this movie doesn't goes below the surface, so this is cearly bad focus.
DustBuster
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Post by DustBuster »

Great find, Sebastian!
No dessert for you- ONE MONTH!
dashadeaux
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Location: USA, Peoria Arizona

missed this track!!!!!

Post by dashadeaux »

Of all the clicks I've done, the only one I wish I had back is the brain dead click for movie 39125!!!!

At @20 mic from the right and @120 mic from the top is the suspected track. It comes into focus near the bottom of the focus range. The surface penetration isn't evident but this one makes my heart beat faster, anyway missed it yesterday, 8/03... check it out if you come across the movie.
Sagastar
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Post by Sagastar »

i see the 3 in your dustbuster, but none in scarabs'.
littlewoy
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Post by littlewoy »

http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ ... e_id=42725

What do people think of this one? Look in the top right just below and a bit to the right of the big blob. It only comes into focus and the lowest end of the scale. If you focus a bit above it you can just see the circle of the track narrowing. It's had 28 views and no one else agrees with me.
Pollux.Castor
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Re: I count 9!!

Post by Pollux.Castor »

farpung wrote:On movie http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ ... e_id=42006;
what about that little dot on the top edge towards the right. It doesn't change at all as you focus in and out. The first time I saw this I marked it as a possible track, but I have now seen it in numerous movies so I conclude it is a spot on the camera lens. Some warning about this phenomenon in the tutorial would prevent some false positives.
It is talked about in the training.

Also refering to that movie, the tracks being referenced are very deep in the gel. If these are real tracks, I am being too generous with the "bad focus" button. I am calling it "bad focus" if the surface isn't 1/3 up from the bottom. Should I be less generous with the "bad focus"?
Sharqua
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Re: track?

Post by Sharqua »

littlewoy wrote:http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ ... e_id=42725

What do people think of this one? Look in the top right just below and a bit to the right of the big blob. It only comes into focus and the lowest end of the scale. If you focus a bit above it you can just see the circle of the track narrowing. It's had 28 views and no one else agrees with me.
littlewoy,

Yep! I see it, too. I've clicked quite a few of those and even ran into one movie that had 7 in one!

It looks like a particle beneath the surface; the Stardust team is asking us to click them until they can figure out what they are.

Too bad so many people are going too fast to notice it.
taterbug wrote:look closely at the bottom left, right above the size scale, all the way down, could just be bad focus idk
http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ ... e_id=36536
taterbug,

What you are seeing is the surface of the aerogel. Not every spot on the surface falls at the same depth. Think of it as a slightly rolling hill and you'll get the picture. What you're shooting for is to capture what's beneath the surface.

-Shar
bartsob5
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Post by bartsob5 »

i'm clicking bad focus only when there are less then 4 pics below the surface and less then 4 pics above the surface...
Image
KarMann
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Re: I count 9!!

Post by KarMann »

farpung wrote:On movie http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ ... e_id=42006;
what about that little dot on the top edge towards the right. It doesn't change at all as you focus in and out. The first time I saw this I marked it as a possible track, but I have now seen it in numerous movies so I conclude it is a spot on the camera lens. Some warning about this phenomenon in the tutorial would prevent some false positives.
Tutorial page 6, more specifically. They didn't point out the other two, but they did describe the general concept so that you ought to be able to recognize them.
Let it never be said that your **** retentive attention to detail never yielded positive results. - Loki, Dogma
taterbug
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Post by taterbug »

Sharqua i think you might be talking about the straight line across the middle, which is not the feature i was looking at, heres what im asking about
http://usera.imagecave.com/Chris654/ScreenHunter_7.jpg
taterbug
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Post by taterbug »

i say that they are bubbles because thats what they look like between two microscope slides, or under something flat, if they are bubbles they could be entirely underneath the aerogel, compressed between the gel and whatever it was that holds the gel in place
not so tired now
Sharqua
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Post by Sharqua »

taterbug wrote:Sharqua i think you might be talking about the straight line across the middle, which is not the feature i was looking at
taterbug,

The image is askew; no, I'm not referring to the line across the middle. The lower left region is significantly lower (farther away from the microscope) than the upper right.

I see one particle straight up from 45 on the micron scale, and one up from about 70. They are both near the edge of the focus movie. Are those what you were referring to?

See the slightly bigger blob right above the 90-micron mark on the scale? It also comes into focus at the same time as the other particles. This is how you tell particles that are on the surface -- compare them to other particles in the image, and if they all come into focus at the same time as you focus in "down from above", then you are seeing particles that are on the surface of the aerogel.

Basically, the particle you are seeing has barely come into focus as you are coming down from above. For it to be a particle track, you need it to come into focus as you move your mouse towards "focus down" on the focus bar, and you need it to stay in focus as you continue further into the depths of the aerogel. Finding something that is part of a group, with nothing else above it in focus in the "focus up" region, is usually a sign that it sits on the surface.

I hope that makes sense. :) Let me know if you were looking at something else and I misunderstood?

-Shar
DustBuster
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Post by DustBuster »

taterbug wrote:if they are bubbles they could be entirely underneath the aerogel, compressed between the gel and whatever it was that holds the gel in place
The gel is held in place by it's sides. The front and back sides of the aerogel are exposed and the movies are lighted from below as the microscope records the images from above (there's a picture somewhere, I just can't find it right now).
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