The stardust hunt is on

Alan Sheets, Loveland, CO — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:24:26 GMT

I'm wondering how difficult this would be to automate this search a bit. For instance, many web sites are now protected with an alpha-numeric registration system that requires a user to input a string of characters that are displayed by off-center graphics (yahoo mail is a good example of this). This is supposedly hack-proof against autoregistration, but there have been many improvements in OCR technology that allows autoregistration to take place anyway.

I wonder if the same hacking technology could be adapted to this with any success.

The stardust hunt is on

James Stratton, Springfield, TN — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 17:24:36 GMT

I just went through the tutorial, and it seems to me like it will be lots of fun. I can't wait to get started. To use humans instead of computers to search stuff like this is a great thing because it gives us more understanding and the feeling that we, regular everyday people, can be part of not only this world, but the rest of the universe. Some of this dust could have been created billions of years ago! And I can be one to see traces of it for the first time! That is truly awesome.

The stardust hunt is on

Jeff Nikodym, Long Beach, Ca. — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 23:42:41 GMT

I've just passed the 10 test "movies". I then registered, only to see that the login to begin the actual searching was disabled. Now, the entire home page has to links to anything. Looks like they've disabled the entire entry site, most likely due to high traffic volume problems. I guess it's to be expected.

The searching actually seems very relaxing to me. Looking forward to actually beginning sometime in the near future!

The stardust hunt is on

Dennis Fishback, Tracy, California — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:57:55 GMT

I went through the tutorial process (100% :-D) and logged in, then viewed about 20 of the "real" virtual slides. Four or five of them were "calibration images" that were thrown in to see if I was paying attention. I was. Unfortunately their website was shut down right about then. I hope it was because of too much enthusiastic help, and not some jerk spamming their site!
Searching the slides is actually pretty addictive and relaxing. It's nice to be able to do something important for the scientific community, and it would be pretty cool to be the first to spot a specific impact trace in the Aerogel.

The stardust hunt is on

Al Chase, Sisters,OR — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 15:40:09 GMT

Does anybody know whats going on???
I have registered and searched for an hour. Now the website seems to be turned off since yesterday evening. Its frustrating when you dont know whats going on??
Hope somebody has some info.
Thanks

The stardust hunt is on

Charly Urban, Birmingham Alabama — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 16:44:51 GMT

I would hope that anyone interested in helping would not want to miss one slide! I asm very excited to be able to participate. Imagine, you could see something no one has EVER seen before. I am encouraging everyone to help. Think what a fun family project it can be for the kids. Lord knows, most public schools would never be able offer an opprtunity like this to a child.

The stardust hunt is on

Alan Boyle — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 19:12:50 GMT

Hi, frustrated seekers: I'm trying to get in touch with the Stardust @ Home folks, but based on the forum comments, it sounds as if spurious images are showing up in the "Virtual Microscope" ... e.g., images of a bride and groom, lake and trees, etc. So the S @ H team is trying to figure out where this weird imagery is coming from. It sounds as if the stock images were interspersed on the Amazon server that is hosting the aerogel images. It also sounds as if they were bogged down with traffice when they opened the doors. I'm sorry to hear about the glitches, I guess you'll have to periodically check the Stardust page for updates relating to this problem.

The stardust hunt is on

Alan Boyle — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 20:04:18 GMT

OK, I heard back from Andrew Westphal at Berkeley. He says the site is back up. They had to track down the "weird image" problem, and found it was due to a "communication issue" or "crossed wires" with the server where the images were being stored. "We hadn't seen it" before the launch because the glitch happened relatively rarely, but users did notice it and mentioned it on the S @ H forums. There was also a hardware problem that created hangups just after the official launch. Aaanyway, Westphal says the issue was resolved and the system is back in service.

The stardust hunt is on

Charly Urban,Birmingham,AL — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 14:20:43 GMT

I was on for about 6 hours last night. I did have trouble getting into the site initially but once i logged on, i didnt lose it again. I managed to view about 75 slides. it was incredible. beware, they slip a lot of "calibration" slides in too. I had 21 slides out of 75 were calibration.
It was very exciting. i saw about 20 possible tracks out of all the slides. What a great age we live in!! I'm ready to go to Mars now!!