General Discussions

An Astronomy article that might be of interest to folk.

POSTED BY: Kai
UPDATED: Thursday, January 19, 2006 06:01
VIEWED: 1243
PAGE 1 of 1

KAI

Thursday, January 19, 2006 6:01 AM

This article was being linked to from the webcomic A Miracle of Science, and I thought it was interesting enough to share:

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/01/10_dust.shtml

The gist of it is that a spacecraft sent to collect interstellar dust particles and dust from the tail of a comet has returned with its submicroscopic treasure embedded in a block of aerogel. The problem? Some of the particles are easy to find, but some are going to be much more difficult to track down since they figure they only collected an estimated 45 grains of dust. Oy. The solution? A SETI@Home-style arrangement where enthusiasts can use an internet connection to sift through images using a "virtual microscope" assembly. The payoff? If you find a particle, and it's confirmed, you get to name it.

That's right. You.

Now, I'm a big ol' dork I will admit, because the first thing I thought of when I read that is "Here's a way for the name Serenity to get a little slice of immortality". And there certainly are a lot of browncoats with 'net connections out there. Anyway, the article is a fun read regardless.