Don Brownlee
Don Brownlee
deliver earth form helped life material molecules organic whether
What we want to know is how organic molecules actually form in comets and whether they helped deliver organic material to the Earth before life began.
formed hot major planets pluto regions solar sun system thrown
There are two major possibilities. One that they formed in the innermost, hotter-most regions of our solar system when the sun and planets were forming, and they were thrown out -- all the way out to the Pluto region of the solar system. The other possibility is they were formed around other stars, in hot regions around other stars.
collected either form found high hottest normally red samples siberia solar white
We found the hottest samples in the coldest place. These are mineral grains that normally form under high temperature conditions. They were either red hot or white hot grains. Yet they were collected in the Siberia of the solar system.
actual believe billion blocks building collecting formed information particles solar stored system
We are collecting the actual building blocks the solar system was formed from 4.5 billion years ago. We believe that the particles have a lot of information stored in them.
collected considered extremely form found high minerals normally siberia solar
We found mineral grains that are considered very high-temperature minerals -- they normally form under extremely high temperature conditions. And yet they were collected in a comet, the Siberia of the solar system.
blocks building cold collect comet confident edge far formed initial materials mission primitive solar sun
We did this mission to collect the most primitive materials we could in the solar system. We went to a comet that formed at the edge of the solar system, far from the sun under very cold conditions. We're confident that it was made out of the initial building blocks of our solar system.
came comet edge formed inner lifetime pluto recently sample solar spent system until
This comet formed at very edge of the solar system ... out by pluto ... and spent all its lifetime out there until recently it came into the inner part of the solar system, where we could sample it.
believe best beyond bodies collecting comet formed major mission planets preserved reason samples solar system
The fundamental reason for this mission is that we are collecting what we believe are the best preserved samples of the formation of our solar system and they are preserved because they formed these comet bodies beyond the major planets out beyond Neptune.
bright people quite sure
We weren't quite sure how bright it was going to be and some people didn't think we would see anything.
backyard bringing collected comet course dust lands material particle per primitive square tons year
Each year we have 30 to 40,000 tons of primitive material from comets and asteroids that lands on Earth, and this is about one particle per square meter per day. So during the course of our seven-year mission, there was more comet dust collected in your backyard than what we're bringing home.
angle appeared five half jumping lasted maybe minutes noticed ran red saw supposed tail yelling
Five minutes before it was supposed to come in, we ran outside. I saw this red thing that, at first, I thought was Mars. Then I noticed it was moving, from our angle it appeared to be climbing. Pretty soon, it had this glowing, reddish tail that lasted maybe half a minute. ... We were all yelling and jumping up and down.
collected grain
Every grain that we collected has a story to tell.
fantastic quite
We are approaching the end of a quite fantastic voyage.
Well, we'll see. But we do have some interesting stuff.