From Dust to Life: The Origin and Evolution of Our Solar System - Hardcover

Chambers, John; Mitton, Jacqueline

 
9780691145228: From Dust to Life: The Origin and Evolution of Our Solar System
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0691145229 ISBN 13: 9780691145228
Verlag: Princeton University Press, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

The remarkable story of how our solar system came to be

The birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. This book 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.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

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).

Von der hinteren Coverseite

"As an astrophysicist credentialed in the days before the space era, I figured reading another book on the solar system would be a big yawn. Surprise! I couldn't have been more wrong! Here is an eye-opening up-to-date reconnaissance of what's in our part of the universe and how it has evolved. Along the way, this arresting account reveals how unique our planetary system really is."--Owen Gingerich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

"The origin of our solar system is among the hottest and most fascinating research topics in all of planetary science and astronomy. Chambers and Mitton have produced a compelling and up-to-date survey of this field that reads quickly and authoritatively and leaves no stone unturned in surveying the landscape of this vast and rich topic. I recommend it with gusto!"--Alan Stern, Southwest Research Institute

"John Chambers is one of the world's leading authorities on the origin of the solar system, and here, together with Jacqueline Mitton, provides an engaging summary of the new discoveries for a wider audience. This book is unquestionably the most up-to-date and authoritative popular presentation of current thinking on the subject."--Philip J. Armitage, author ofAstrophysics of Planet Formation

"There is no other book out there that discusses the origin of the solar system in this much detail yet is still accessible to nonscientists. Chambers and Mitton do an excellent job of keeping abreast of the notable discoveries in recent years."--Jane Luu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"An exciting and rewarding read from cover to cover. You come away feeling well-served and well-educated. This is a great book."--Erik Asphaug, University of California, Santa Cruz

Aus dem Klappentext

"As an astrophysicist credentialed in the days before the space era, I figured reading another book on the solar system would be a big yawn. Surprise! I couldn't have been more wrong! Here is an eye-opening up-to-date reconnaissance of what's in our part of the universe and how it has evolved. Along the way, this arresting account reveals how unique our planetary system really is."--Owen Gingerich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

"The origin of our solar system is among the hottest and most fascinating research topics in all of planetary science and astronomy. Chambers and Mitton have produced a compelling and up-to-date survey of this field that reads quickly and authoritatively and leaves no stone unturned in surveying the landscape of this vast and rich topic. I recommend it with gusto!"--Alan Stern, Southwest Research Institute

"John Chambers is one of the world's leading authorities on the origin of the solar system, and here, together with Jacqueline Mitton, provides an engaging summary of the new discoveries for a wider audience. This book is unquestionably the most up-to-date and authoritative popular presentation of current thinking on the subject."--Philip J. Armitage, author ofAstrophysics of Planet Formation

"There is no other book out there that discusses the origin of the solar system in this much detail yet is still accessible to nonscientists. Chambers and Mitton do an excellent job of keeping abreast of the notable discoveries in recent years."--Jane Luu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"An exciting and rewarding read from cover to cover. You come away feeling well-served and well-educated. This is a great book."--Erik Asphaug, University of California, Santa Cruz

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FROM DUST TO LIFE

THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

By JOHN CHAMBERS, JACQUELINE MITTON

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2014 John Chambers and Jacqueline Mitton
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-14522-8

Contents

List of Illustrations......................................................xi
Preface....................................................................xv
ONE Cosmic Archaeology.....................................................1
TWO Discovering the Solar System...........................................19
THREE An Evolving Solar System.............................................43
FOUR The Question of Timing................................................56
FIVE Meteorites............................................................75
SIX Cosmic Chemistry.......................................................92
SEVEN A Star Is Born.......................................................108
EIGHT Nursery for Planets..................................................123
NINE Worlds of Rock and Metal..............................................140
TEN the Making of the Moon.................................................168
ELEVEN Earth, Cradle of Life...............................................186
TWELVE Worlds of Gas and Ice...............................................205
THIRTEEN What Happened to the Asteroid Belt?...............................225
FOURTEEN The Outermost Solar System........................................242
FIFTEEN Epilogue: Paradigms, Problems, and Predictions.....................263
Glossary...................................................................277
Sources and Further Reading................................................291
Index......................................................................293


CHAPTER 1

COSMIC ARCHAEOLOGY


A FASCINATION WITH THE PAST

The temple at Karnak on the River Nile is one of the most magnificentmonuments to survive from ancient Egypt. Construction of the vasttemple complex began 3,000 years ago, and 30 different pharaohs developedand extended the site for a millennium afterward. Everywhereat Karnak, the stone walls and columns of the temple precincts are inscribedwith historical texts, prayers, and accounts of religious rituals.Today, guides routinely explain to tourists the meaning of the symbolsincised in stone and the significance of this immense monument. Yetfor 1,500 years no one in the world could make sense of the writing, andmuch of ancient Egyptian civilization was a mystery.

The inscriptions at Karnak are composed of hieroglyphics, one of theoldest written languages in the world. The ancient Egyptians used thispictorial script for formal and sacred documents, but its use declinedafter Egypt became a Roman province in 30 BC. When Egypt becameChristian in the 4th century AD, all memory of hieroglyphics was lost.Over the following centuries, scholars puzzled over the meaning of hieroglyphsbut never managed to decode them.

In 1799, a French soldier in Napoleon's army discovered a gray slabof stone built into a fort near the Egyptian town known as Rashid orRosetta. The stone was inscribed with religious proclamations writtenin three languages: ancient Greek, hieroglyphics, and a more modernEgyptian script called Demotic. Scholars quickly translated the Greekand Demotic writing and realized the same proclamation was repeatedin all three languages. Unfortunately, the top portion of the slab hadbroken away, leaving only 14 lines of hieroglyphs, but these proved to beenough. A painstaking comparison of the languages and some inspireddetective work allowed researchers to decode the hieroglyphics for thefirst time in more than a millennium. The Rosetta stone became the keyto unlocking a priceless treasury of information about ancient Egyptand its people.

The story of the Rosetta stone is a good example of how archaeologistscan piece together human history by carefully studying rare artifactsthat have survived the rigors of time. Occasionally, evidence of thepast is staring us in the face just waiting to be identified, like the stoneslabs in Karnak. More often the past is buried under debris accumulatedover many centuries, as in the legendary city of Troy in Turkey. The pastcan even be found hiding in the most unlikely of places, such as the detailsof human history recorded in our genetic code.

Teasing out this information from a variety of sources and graspingits significance is far from easy. It has taken several centuries to developthe tools and know-how that enable today's scientists to interpretclues from the past and turn them into an account of human history.Breakthroughs in archaeology and other sciences often have to wait fora chance discovery like the Rosetta stone, or the introduction of a newtechnology, or the unique insights of an imaginative mind. Despite thesedifficulties, scientists persevere because of a deep fascination within allof us: a desire to know about our origins.

Scientists pondering the history of the solar system are much likearchaeologists sifting through the sands of Egypt. They bring differentmethods and tools to the job, but both strive to glean as much as possiblefrom precious relics from the past, and combine this with informationdeduced from our current surroundings. The distances and timescalesmay be different but the big questions are the same. Where do we comefrom? How did we get here? What was the world like in the past? Decipheringthe history of the solar system is archaeology on a grand scale.For human society to arise, our species needed to evolve from thosethat went before. Prior to this, life had to appear on a suitably habitableplanet orbiting a long-lived star. Before any of this could happen, oursolar system had to take form from the near nothingness of interstellarspace. The story of this transformation and how scientists have pieced ittogether is the subject of this book.


A SOLAR SYSTEM TO EXPLAIN

We start by taking stock of the solar system we see today. The solar systemis dominated by a star, the Sun, which contains more than 99.8 percentof the system's mass. Compared to any of the planets the Sun ishuge: roughly 1.4 million km (840,000 miles) across, or 109 times thediameter of Earth. The Sun is a rather ordinary star, but "average" is notquite the right word: it is actually brighter and more massive than 90percent of the stars in our galaxy. The Sun is roughly in the middle of its10-billion-year life span, neither young nor old, and it has few noteworthyfeatures. It lacks the variability, unusual composition, or excessivemagnetic field of some of its more exotic stellar counterparts. From thepoint of view of life on Earth, this is a good thing: a stable and predictablestar provides a pleasant environment for life to flourish.

The average density of the Sun is similar to that of water, but it islargely composed of lighter materials—hydrogen and helium—that aretightly compressed by the Sun's gravity. These two chemical elementsmake up 98 percent of the Sun's bulk, while all the others...

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Verlag
Princeton University Press
Erscheinungsdatum
2013
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0691145229
ISBN 13 
9780691145228
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
299
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

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