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Project Stardust: A Photographer Scours Rooftops for Minuscule Cosmic Particles

73 points by Petiver 5y ago

jrockway 5y ago
I feel like everyone is scouring their roof for micrometeorites these days. Here's a few videos on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xD7SvtPAMM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xD7SvtPAMM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc
- aaron695 5y ago
  I liked the second video because it was a null result. The best way to learn. And it was refreshing. And the top comment on HN was a complaint it was a null result, which sums up the world really - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19179586 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19179586
abeppu 5y ago
Several of the examples shown in that article have a conspicuous round shiny blob on them. What is that? How does it get there?
- kjhughes 5y ago
  Per jrockway's cool videos he posted in another comment, it's likely a bead of nickel or iron, mentioned at this timestamp: https://youtu.be/0xD7SvtPAMM?t=389 https://youtu.be/0xD7SvtPAMM?t=389
jjcon 5y ago
Does anyone have resources for finding larger meteorites? The rooftop small ones are cool but are there ways to track larger ones?
- gnramires 5y ago
  I'd be interested to know what sort of distribution do they follow. Probably some kind of power law? The larger ones of course seem exponentially more difficult to find (the power law might break down due to gravitational clumping of large objects).
atombender 5y ago
Here [1] is a great video about Larsen and his work on collecting microscopic meteroites. Larsen's book, "In Search of Stardust: Amazing Micrometeorites and Their Terrestrial Imposters" [2] is also great, a gorgeous coffee table book with lots of high-quality photos of meteorites of the kind that you see on the web site. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc [2] https://www.amazon.com/Search-Stardust-Micrometeorites-Terrestrial-Imposters/dp/076035264X/ https://www.amazon.com/Search-Stardust-Micrometeorites-Terre...

73 points by Petiver 5y ago

I feel like everyone is scouring their roof for micrometeorites these days. Here's a few videos on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xD7SvtPAMM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xD7SvtPAMM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc

aaron695 5y ago
I liked the second video because it was a null result. The best way to learn. And it was refreshing. And the top comment on HN was a complaint it was a null result, which sums up the world really - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19179586 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19179586

abeppu 5y ago

Several of the examples shown in that article have a conspicuous round shiny blob on them. What is that? How does it get there?

kjhughes 5y ago
Per jrockway's cool videos he posted in another comment, it's likely a bead of nickel or iron, mentioned at this timestamp: https://youtu.be/0xD7SvtPAMM?t=389 https://youtu.be/0xD7SvtPAMM?t=389

jjcon 5y ago

Does anyone have resources for finding larger meteorites? The rooftop small ones are cool but are there ways to track larger ones?

gnramires 5y ago
I'd be interested to know what sort of distribution do they follow. Probably some kind of power law? The larger ones of course seem exponentially more difficult to find (the power law might break down due to gravitational clumping of large objects).

atombender 5y ago

Here [1] is a great video about Larsen and his work on collecting microscopic meteroites. Larsen's book, "In Search of Stardust: Amazing Micrometeorites and Their Terrestrial Imposters" [2] is also great, a gorgeous coffee table book with lots of high-quality photos of meteorites of the kind that you see on the web site. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc [2] https://www.amazon.com/Search-Stardust-Micrometeorites-Terrestrial-Imposters/dp/076035264X/ https://www.amazon.com/Search-Stardust-Micrometeorites-Terre...