Donald Brownlee
Donald Brownlee
Donald Eugene Brownleeis a professor of astronomy at the University of Washingtonand the principal investigator for NASA's Stardust mission. His primary research interests include astrobiology, comets, and cosmic dust. He was born in Las Vegas, Nevada...
either found siberia solar
When they formed, they were either red-hot or white-hot and we found them in the Siberia of the solar system.
extremely fire formed found high remarkably samples solar system
Remarkably enough, we have found fire and ice. We've found samples from the coldest part of the solar system that have mineral grains formed under extremely high temperatures.
fire found remarkably
Remarkably enough, we have found fire and ice.
either extremely formed found high minerals samples solar
In the coldest part of the solar system, we've found samples that have formed at extremely high temperatures. When these minerals formed, they were either red-hot or white-hot grains.
billion comet far library low picked records stored sun using
We?re using this comet as a library that picked up records and stored them far from the sun at very low temperatures for 4.5 billion years.
ended might standing
They always ended up with a rigid, crusty material. If you were standing on it you might go right through it.
contain discussion lots minerals whether
Scientifically, that's great, because there's been lots of discussion of whether comets contain minerals or glass.
absolutely bad either exceeded fully happened none point remarkable space successful totally wildest wrong
At this point in time, we're absolutely thrilled. It's totally remarkable to have a fully successful mission. Of all the things that could go wrong either in space or even scientifically, none of the bad things happened and everything really exceeded our wildest expectations.
huge lots small
It exceeds all expectations. It's a huge success. We can see lots of impacts. There are big ones, there are small ones.
huge
It exceeds all expectations. It's a huge success.
exceeded grandest larger million particles
It exceeded all of our grandest expectations. We should have more than 1 million particles larger than 1 micron in diameter.
formed solar
We can tell the difference, absolutely, for something that formed in our own solar system, and something that formed around another star.
feet lots small
We can see lots of impacts. There are big ones, there are small ones. The big ones you can see from 10 feet away.
bit dozen hair human larger particles prediction size
The prediction was that we would get a dozen particles larger than human hair size and one particle a little bit larger than a millimeter.