
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


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 is not 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 and Svein Aarbostad.
Presenter: Caroline Steel
(Image: Cygnus Nebulosity and Starclouds Credit: VW Pics / Contributor | Getty Images)
By BBC World Service4.4
940940 ratings
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 is not 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 and Svein Aarbostad.
Presenter: Caroline Steel
(Image: Cygnus Nebulosity and Starclouds Credit: VW Pics / Contributor | Getty Images)

7,875 Listeners

854 Listeners

1,073 Listeners

5,571 Listeners

1,807 Listeners

1,769 Listeners

1,054 Listeners

2,005 Listeners

605 Listeners

753 Listeners

93 Listeners

408 Listeners

429 Listeners

823 Listeners

765 Listeners

745 Listeners

228 Listeners

362 Listeners

475 Listeners

242 Listeners

3,221 Listeners

781 Listeners

115 Listeners

1,020 Listeners