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...
atoms billion bodies comet earth far four half library low picked records solar stardust sun system using virtually
Virtually all of the atoms in our bodies and in the Earth were in interstellar grains - stardust grains - before the solar system formed. We're using this comet as a library that picked up records of the formation of our solar system, and has been storing them far from the sun at very low temperatures for four and a half billion years.
comet expect fully older particles
We fully expect some of the comet particles to be older than the sun.
backward chance low
What was the chance someone would put a g-switch in backward and not be discovered, ... It has got to be a low probability event.
samples universe
When you have the samples in hand, it's a whole different universe.
five great
We were having a great time. We were really excited, and this did not go on for five minutes. It went on all day.
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.
formed solar
We can tell the difference, absolutely, for something that formed in our own solar system, and something that formed around another star.
billion blocks building earth examine fantastic farthest formed solar soon system traveled
We're approaching the end of a fantastic voyage. This is the farthest anything from Earth has traveled and come back. Soon we'll be able to examine the building blocks that formed the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
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.
almost entire excellent left
We're in excellent shape. We've done almost everything we have to do in the entire mission...only thing left is to come into the Earth.
ancient brought cosmic edge solar treasure
We've brought back an ancient cosmic treasure from the very edge of the solar system.
absolutely seeing variety
We're seeing a variety of things that we know absolutely come from a comet.
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.
comet history people planet view
This was our first view of the comet dust. We are the first people in the history of the planet to see comet dust.