From Dust to Life (eBook)

The Origin and Evolution of Our Solar System

John Chambers, Jacqueline Mitton (Autoren)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2017
320 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-8556-5 (ISBN)

Infos

John Chambers is a planetary scientist in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Jacqueline Mitton is a writer, editor, and media consultant in astronomy. Her books include Titan Unveiled: Saturn's Mysterious Moon Explored (Princeton).

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The remarkable story of how our solar system came to beThe birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. From Dust to Life tells the remarkable story of how the celestial objects that make up the solar system arose from common beginnings billions of years ago, and how scientists and philosophers have sought to unravel this mystery down through the centuries, piecing together the clues that enabled them to deduce the solar system's layout, its age, and the most likely way it formed.Drawing on the history of astronomy and the latest findings in astrophysics and the planetary sciences, John Chambers and Jacqueline Mitton offer the most up-to-date and authoritative treatment of the subject available. They examine how the evolving universe set the stage for the appearance of our Sun, and how the nebulous cloud of gas and dust that accompanied the young Sun eventually became the planets, comets, moons, and asteroids that exist today. They explore how each of the planets acquired its unique characteristics, why some are rocky and others gaseous, and why one planet in particular-our Earth-provided an almost perfect haven for the emergence of life.From Dust to Life is a must-read for anyone who desires to know more about how the solar system came to be. This enticing book takes readers to the very frontiers of modern research, engaging with the latest controversies and debates. It reveals how ongoing discoveries of far-distant extrasolar planets and planetary systems are transforming our understanding of our own solar system's astonishing history and its possible fate.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 2.5.2017
• Nachwort: John Chambers, Jacqueline Mitton
• Zusatzinfo: 41 halftones. 19 line illus. 7 tables.
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Natur / Ökologie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
• Schlagworte: 1992 fireball • age of the universe • Alexandria • Alfred Russel Wallace • Alpha particle • Angular momentum • Apollo missions • archaeologists • Asteroid • Asteroid belt • Asteroids • Astronomer • Astronomers • Astronomical Unit • Astronomy • astrophysics • Atmosphere • Atmosphere of Earth • atomic number • Big Bang • Billion years • Calculation • carbon • Carbon-12 • Carbon dioxide • Charles Darwin • Chemical and Engineering News • Chemical element • Chemical elements • Chondrite • Chondrule • chondrules • Circular Orbit • Clair C. Patterson • Claudius Ptolemy • Coma • Comet • comets • Core • Creation • crust • crustal recycling • Crust (geology) • Debris disk • Deuterium • dust grains • dwarf planet • early earth • earth • Earth mass • Erasmus Darwin • Evolution • evolving universe • exoplanet • Extrasolar Planets • fine dust • Formation and evolution of the Solar System • Gas • Gas giant • gas layers • Geological Society of America • geologist • Geology • Geology of the Moon • Giant-impact hypothesis • Giant planet • giant planets • Gravity • great flood • habitable planet • Hubble space telescope • human origins • Human society • Hydrogen • Immanuel Kant • Impact Crater • Infrared excess • Inner Solar System • Interstellar Medium • interstellar space • Iron meteorite • Jupiter • Kuiper Belt • Late Heavy Bombardment • light-year • liquid interior • lower atmosphere • lunar exploration • Luna spacecraft • Magma ocean • Mantle • Mars • Martian meteorite • Meteorite • meteorites • Meteors • methane • milky way • miniature planets • Molecular cloud • Molecule • Moon • Moons of Jupiter • Nasa • natural processes • Nebula • Nebular hypothesis • nebular theories • Neptune • Neutron • New Horizons • nitrogen • nothingness • nuclear reaction • Oort Cloud • Orbit • Orbital period • Orion nebula • oxygen • Philae (spacecraft) • physicist • Pierre-Simon de Laplace • Planet • planetary growth • Planetary Science • planetary science program • planetary sciences • Planetary System • Planetary systems • Planetesimal • planetesimals • Planets • Plate Tectonics • primitive continents • Proplyd • protoplanet • Protoplanetary disk • Protoplanetary Disks • Radioactive decay • Radiometric dating • Radionuclide • Red Giant • rocky material • Saturn • scientific upheaval • Scientist • scientists • silicate • small rocks • Small Solar System body • Solar mass • solar-mass star • solar nebula • Solar System • space • Space Agencies • spacecraft • Spaceflight • Space Missions • space probes • Spiral galaxy • Star • star formation • Stars • Structure of the Earth • Sun • supermassive blackhole • Supernova • Tails • Terrestrial planet • Theia (planet) • Trans-Neptunian object • Trojan asteroid • T Tauri star • Ultraviolet • Universe • Upper Atmosphere • Uranus • volcano • weathering • White Dwarf • year
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-8556-6 / 1400885566
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-8556-5 / 9781400885565