Probe may have found cosmic dust



Source:  Paul Rincon, BBC News


Excerpt: ...Scientists may have identified the first specks of interstellar dust in material collected by the US space agency's Stardust spacecraft. ...The Nasa spacecraft was primarily sent to catch dust streaming from Comet Wild 2 .... also set out to capture particles of interstellar dust...in a seven-year, 4.8-billion-km (2.9 billion miles) interplanetary voyage. “So far this particle is unique... if we drop it on the floor, it will cost $300m to get another one ” Dr Andrew Westphal, University of California, Berkeley. …The discovery was made by a member of the public, using the Stardust@Home internet application, which invited participants to search the aerogel collection medium for tiny particles of the dust. ….

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