A NONSCIENTIST FINDS DUST FROM SPACE IN CITY GUTTERS. I posted here about how the Galaxy Zoo website uses the efforts of thousands of nonscientists to make classifications of galaxies to select galaxies for further study. Now nonscientists are researching micrometeorites.
Scientific researchers have traditionally collected micrometeorites by dredging ooze from the sea or melting ice from the Antarctic and then sifting and filtering. This article on the Cosmic Dust Webpage (it seems remarkable that there is a Cosmic Dust webpage) says: “Although [micrometeorites] can be seen with the naked eye, their low concentration in terrestrial sediments necessitates their collection be in places with little terrestrial dust. Greenland and Antarctic snow and ice are excellent collection sites.”
The Economist article tells how Jon Larsen, a musician, has collected about 500 micrometeorites from gutter sediment from the roofs of buildings in Oslo and other cities.