Stardust returned to Earth early this morning bearing particles from comet Wild-2. Nasa and UC Berkely are recruiting volunteers to scan the aerogel* for comet particles. Like the SETI@Home project, this project uses your computer to analyze data. Unlike SETI@Home, it also uses you: participants have the opportunity to visually scan images and identify comet particles which will allow scientists to locate them in the actual aerogel*.

Your Aeon editors plan to use some of our copious spare time to participate in the Stardust@Home project, and we plan to create an Aeon team to track our progress, so if you'd like to join us, pre-register below and we'll post details here when the project starts (probably in March).

stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

*Aerogel is really cool!
stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/photo/aerogel.html

Marti
Celestial Explorer