Searching for Cosmic Dust

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Searching for cosmic dust

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The Stardust Hunter

BBC Radio 4 - Searching for cosmic dust

A jazz musician becomes a cosmic dust hunter.

Norwegian jazz legend Jon Larsen decides to give it all up to search for dust from space.

Norwegian jazz musician Jon Larsen was having breakfast one clear spring morning when he noticed a tiny black speck  land on his clean, white table. With no wind, birds or planes in sight, he wondered if it fell from space.

Dust from space isn’t as fanciful as it sounds. Billions  of microscopic meteorites, dating back to the birth of our solar system, fall onto Earth  every year. But they are so tiny, hidden among the copious dust of everyday life,   that scientists believe they are impossible to find outside ultra clean environments like Antarctica.

But this doesn’t deter Jon, who, against the advice of all experts, decides he is going to be the first person to find an urban micrometeorite.

He takes presenter Caroline Steel and planetary scientist Dr Matthew Genge up onto some roofs, in search of the elusive particles. Can we find stardust on the top of the BBC? 

Featuring Jon Larsen, Dr Matthew Genge (Imperial College London) and Svein Aarbostad.

Presenter: Caroline Steel
Producer: Cathy Edwards and Caroline Steel

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