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Space Weather News for Jan. 11, 2006

http://spaceweather.com

FIREBALL ALERT: On Sunday morning, Jan. 15th, between approximately 1:56 and 1:59 a.m. PST (0956 - 0959 UT), a brilliant fireball will streak over northern California and Nevada. It's NASA's Stardust capsule, returning to Earth with samples of dust from Comet Wild 2. Observers along the flight path should have a marvelous view of this rare man-made meteor. Radio signals reflected from the capsule's ionized tail may be heard from a much wider area--hundreds to thousands of miles away. Visit http://spaceweather.com for maps and observing tips.

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My concern about this is.... do we really know *what* is going to be in that "dust" ??? Hmmm.... Might should have figured out how to nab it w/ the space station, and analyzed it there, first.... ;)

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My concern about this is.... do we really know *what* is going to be in that "dust" ??? Hmmm.... Might should have figured out how to nab it w/ the space station, and analyzed it there, first.... ;)

It came from outer space... :o

A few too many B grade sci-fi flicks? But honestly, that thought does quickly run in and out of the brain, does it not?

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Heh heh.... maybe. I start to get concerned when the bright scientist types seem to be getting a little *too* creative without seeming to take appropriate precautions. Maybe it's slightly overparanoid, but... at this point, we don't know if Earth has the only living organisms on it. We don't know for absolutely certainty how comets were created. We don't know for sure if there isn't some strange virus or prion being carried by the thing that might cause interesting effects here on Earth. Etc, etc... would just seem prudent to be a little careful, is all... :)

Of course, I do find it really cool that the mission succeeded in bring home samples - talk about cool engineering stuff :)

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FWIW the theorerical minimum travel time of meteor impact ejecta on Mars travelling through space to Earth is shorter than some microorganisms are known to survive.

It's not like whole entire comets haven't smacked the Earth a time or two already, let alone a grain or two.

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My concern about this is.... do we really know *what* is going to be in that "dust" ??? Hmmm.... Might should have figured out how to nab it w/ the space station, and analyzed it there, first.... ;)

Not to worry. If I remember correctly, any alien beings which try to take over will die the first time it rains.... B)

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