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...
formed hottest regions solar
If it was formed in our solar system, then it had to be transported from the hottest regions to the coolest.
comet edge samples solar
It's thrilling. We have samples of a comet from the edge 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.
billion desert formed great lake landed larger last million nearly particles salt seven solar space stardust system three traveling treasure
Last Sunday, after seven years in space traveling nearly three billion miles, Stardust landed in the Great Salt Lake Desert with a treasure from when the solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago. We should have more than one million particles larger than one micron in diameter.
expect fully future information landed morning samples solar system textbooks
I fully expect that textbooks in the future will have a lot of information about the formation of the solar system from these samples that landed this morning in Utah.
contains edge inside sample solar star system truly
Inside this thing is our treasure, our sample of the edge of the solar system that truly contains star dust.
finding materials minerals solar
The interesting thing is we are finding these high-temperature minerals in materials from the coldest place in the solar system.
edge exciting quite solar
It is quite exciting to find these things at the edge of the solar system.
billion cosmic edge formed solar system treasure
Its cargo was an ancient, cosmic treasure from the very edge of the solar system ? a treasure that formed when the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago.
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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.
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.
huge
It exceeds all expectations. It's a huge success.
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.
epic overlooked people quite tends
It's really quite an epic thing. I think it tends to get overlooked because it's just a little mission, and there aren't any people on board.