The Cambridge guide to the solar system

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Focus elements......Page 11
Tables......Page 13
Preface to the second edition......Page 17
Preface to the first edition......Page 19
Principal units......Page 27
1 Evolving perspectives: a historical prologue......Page 29
The ancient wanderers......Page 31
Circles and spheres......Page 32
The Earth moves......Page 33
The harmony of the world......Page 40
1.2 Telescopes reveal the hitherto unseen......Page 41
The unanticipated discovery of Jupiter's four large moons......Page 43
The serendipitous discovery of Uranus......Page 44
Refractors and reflectors......Page 45
Satellites and rings......Page 49
Gravity and motion – a delicate balance......Page 51
Neptunes discovery, triumph of Newtonian gravitational theory......Page 53
What are the distances to the Sun and other nearby stars?......Page 54
How big, massive and hot is the Sun?......Page 56
What is the Sun made out of?......Page 57
1.5 Terrestrial and giant planets......Page 61
1.6 What is inside the major planets?......Page 62
2 The new close-up view from space......Page 64
2.1 Flybys, orbiters, probes and landers......Page 66
Ubiquitous craters, ancient records of formation......Page 80
Using impact craters to estimate surface age......Page 81
How to make a crater......Page 82
Unique craters on Mars and Venus......Page 84
Trapped heat......Page 88
Lava flows on the Earth's Moon......Page 89
Shields and plains on Mars......Page 91
Volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io......Page 93
Volcanoes of ice......Page 94
Earth, the water planet......Page 99
Water on the Moon......Page 101
A former ocean on Venus......Page 102
Water on Mars......Page 103
Water ice in the outer solar system......Page 104
3 Atmospheres, magnetospheres and the solar wind......Page 108
Where do atmospheres come from?......Page 110
Global warming by the greenhouse effect......Page 111
Losing an atmosphere......Page 112
Earth's unique atmosphere......Page 115
Earth's climate and weather......Page 116
Venus’ atmosphere......Page 117
Mars’ atmosphere......Page 118
Exospheres of Mercury and the Earth's Moon......Page 119
Evolution of the terrestrial planetary atmospheres......Page 120
Composition and temperature of giant planet atmospheres......Page 121
Raging winds on the giant planets......Page 123
3.4 Titan, a satellite with a substantial atmosphere......Page 124
Tenuous exospheres of Europa and Io......Page 125
3.5 The planets are inside the expanding Sun......Page 126
Earth's magnetic dipole......Page 130
Earth's protective magnetosphere......Page 131
Trapped particles......Page 132
Planets with magnetospheres......Page 135
Terrestrial aurora......Page 139
Aurora on Jupiter and Saturn......Page 143
4 Restless Earth: third rock from the Sun......Page 145
Looking inside the Earth's hidden interior......Page 147
The crust and mantle of the Earth......Page 149
Two cores of the Earth......Page 150
Earth's continents, oceans and ocean floors......Page 152
Earth's drifting continents......Page 155
Sea-floor spreading......Page 156
Plate tectonics on Earth......Page 160
Earthquakes......Page 161
The Earth's impermanent face......Page 163
Our Sun-layered atmosphere......Page 166
Synthetic chemicals are destroying the Earth's ozone layer......Page 169
Doing something about ozone depletion......Page 171
Global warming by human emission of heat-trapping, “greenhouse” gases......Page 172
Possible consequences of Earth's rising temperature......Page 173
Doing something about global warming......Page 176
Ice and fire......Page 178
4.5 Space weather......Page 179
High-flying humans at risk from solar explosions......Page 180
Earth-orbiting satellites in danger......Page 181
Forecasting space weather......Page 183
5 The Earth’s Moon: stepping stone to the planets......Page 186
5.1 Fundamentals......Page 187
5.2 Eclipses of the Moon and the Sun......Page 188
5.3 The Moons face......Page 191
Race to the Moon......Page 197
The Apollo program to land men on the Moon......Page 198
Moonquakes......Page 205
A small lunar core......Page 206
Rocks from the Apollo missions......Page 207
Scanning the surface of the Moon from spacecraft in the 1990s......Page 208
The Moon is not completely dry......Page 212
The magnetized Moon......Page 213
A new space race to the Moon......Page 214
The age of the oldest rocks  Moon, Earth and meteorites......Page 216
Formation of the highlands and maria......Page 217
The pattern of the tides......Page 219
The days are getting longer......Page 220
Earth's tidal influence on the Moon......Page 221
Stabilizing the Earth......Page 222
What models of the Moon's origin must explain......Page 224
Early origin hypotheses......Page 225
The giant impact hypothesis......Page 227
6 Mercury: a dense battered world......Page 229
6.2 A tiny world in the glare of sunlight......Page 230
6.3 Space-age investigations of Mercury......Page 231
Long, hot afternoons on Mercury......Page 232
Possible water ice at the poles of Mercury......Page 234
Craters on Mercury......Page 235
Cliffs, or rupes, on Mercury......Page 239
6.6 An iron world......Page 242
6.7 A mysterious magnetic field......Page 243
6.8 Einstein and Mercury’s anomalous orbital motion......Page 245
7 Venus: the veiled planet......Page 248
Brilliant torch of the heavens......Page 249
The view of Venus from Earth......Page 250
Diving into the inferno......Page 252
Clouds of concentrated sulfuric acid on Venus......Page 253
Circulation of the atmosphere of Venus......Page 254
Missing magnetism on Venus......Page 257
Venus rotates backwards, at an exceptionally slow rate......Page 258
Magellan and its predecessors reveal a volcanic surface on Venus......Page 259
Venus is a smoothed-out world......Page 260
Planet-wide covering of lava on Venus......Page 263
Theories for the volcanic makeover of Venus......Page 264
Towering volcanoes and mountain ranges......Page 265
Gravitys highs and lows......Page 266
Trapped heat deforms the surface......Page 267
Up, down and sideways on Earth and Venus......Page 269
8 Mars: the red planet......Page 275
8.1 Fundamentals......Page 277
Mars is an Earth-like planet......Page 278
Early speculations about intelligent life on Mars......Page 279
8.3 The space-age odyssey to Mars......Page 280
A carbon-dioxide atmosphere......Page 281
The thin, cold Martian atmosphere......Page 284
The winds of Mars......Page 286
The residual, remnant, perennial or permanent caps on Mars......Page 287
The crustal dichotomy of Mars......Page 290
Soaring volcanoes and immense canyons on Mars......Page 292
8.7 Flowing water on Mars long ago......Page 294
Ancient, water-charged torrents on Mars......Page 295
Possible ancient lakes and seas on Mars......Page 296
Orbiting spacecraft detect water-related minerals on Mars’ surface......Page 297
Rovers obtain evidence for a watery past on Mars......Page 298
Where did all the water on Mars come from and where did it all go?......Page 300
Crater ejecta suggest subsurface ice on Mars......Page 301
Vast amounts of subsurface water ice on Mars......Page 302
Gullies on Mars......Page 303
Did any living things originate and survive on Mars?......Page 304
Viking 1 and 2 do not find evidence for life on Mars......Page 305
Possible life in a rock from Mars......Page 306
The continuing hunt for signs of life on Mars......Page 307
A maverick moon of Mars......Page 308
Origin of the Martian moons......Page 310
9 Jupiter: a giant primitive planet......Page 311
9.1 Fundamentals......Page 313
Zones and belts in Jupiter's atmosphere......Page 314
Jupiter's storm clouds......Page 315
Cloud layers and colors on Jupiter......Page 317
Plunging into a dry and windy spot on Jupiter......Page 319
Composition of Jupiters upper atmosphere......Page 320
Jupiter is an incandescent globe......Page 321
Ingredients of Jupiter at formation......Page 322
Enormous pressures and strange matter......Page 323
9.4 Introduction to the Galilean satellites......Page 324
Io: a world turned inside out......Page 327
Io's tides of rock......Page 331
Magnetic connections between Jupiter and Io......Page 332
Europa's bright, smooth icy complexion and young face......Page 333
Europa's subsurface sea of melted ice......Page 335
Cratered, wrinkled Ganymede......Page 337
Ganymede: a moon with its own magnetic field......Page 338
9.8 Jupiter's mere wisp of a ring......Page 339
10 Saturn: lord of the rings......Page 345
10.1 Fundamentals......Page 347
10.2 Winds and clouds on Saturn......Page 349
The internal constitution of Saturn......Page 352
Interior heat and helium rain......Page 353
Billions of whirling particles of water ice......Page 354
Ringlets, waves, gaps and spokes......Page 359
Why do planets have rings?......Page 360
Small moons of Saturn......Page 363
Spacecraft view Enceladus close up......Page 365
Active, geyser-like jets arise from the warm tiger-stripe fractures......Page 366
Why is Enceladus hot inside?......Page 368
Titans thick, hazy atmosphere......Page 369
Organic dunes......Page 372
10.8 Alien worlds, distant ring......Page 373
11 Uranus and Neptune......Page 376
Planetary twins......Page 377
11.2 Storm clouds on the outer giants......Page 379
Stormy weather on Neptune......Page 380
Uranus and Neptune are water worlds......Page 382
Narrow, widely spaced rings around Uranus......Page 383
Neptune's sparse thin rings and arcs......Page 385
Five major moons of Uranus......Page 386
Neptune's Triton, a large moon with a retrograde orbit......Page 387
Triton's frozen surface, thin atmosphere and geyser-like eruptions......Page 388
Origin and evolution of Triton......Page 391
12 Asteroids and meteorites......Page 393
Trojan asteroids......Page 395
Chaotic orbits of asteroids......Page 396
Former worlds......Page 397
A lifetime of catastrophic collisions......Page 398
The size of asteroids......Page 399
Shape and form of asteroids......Page 400
An asteroids color......Page 401
Flyby missions of asteroids......Page 403
NEAR embraces asteroid 433 Eros, a solid rock......Page 405
Hayabusa orbits 25143 Itokawa, a rubble pile......Page 408
Space rocks......Page 409
The Antarctica lode......Page 411
Typical meteorites......Page 412
2 Breakup and exposure......Page 413
Rare and exotic finds......Page 415
2 Colors......Page 416
3 Crystalline structure......Page 417
13 Colliding worlds......Page 419
Impact of a comet with Jupiter......Page 420
13.2 Consumed by the Sun......Page 421
The terrestrial impact record......Page 423
Catastrophe from the sky......Page 427
The day the dinosaurs died......Page 429
13.5 Assessing the risk of death from above......Page 430
Finding the hidden threat......Page 431
Doing something about the threat......Page 433
14 Comets......Page 436
14.1 Unexpected appearance of comets......Page 438
14.2 The return of comet Halley......Page 439
14.3 Where do comets come from?......Page 441
The long-period and short-period comets......Page 442
The Oort cloud of comets......Page 443
Formation of the Oort comet cloud......Page 444
The Kuiper belt of comets......Page 446
14.4 Anatomy of a comet......Page 447
14.5 Two comet tails......Page 450
14.6 Spacecraft glimpse the comet nucleus......Page 451
Deep Space 1 encounters comet Borrelly......Page 452
Stardust brings some of comet Wild 2 back home and is retargeted to comet Tempel 1......Page 453
Deep Impact strikes comet Tempel 1 and encounters comet Hartley 2......Page 454
Comets fall apart......Page 456
Nights of the shooting stars......Page 457
Burned-out comets that look like asteroids......Page 459
15 Beyond Neptune......Page 463
The serendipitous discovery of Pluto......Page 464
Pluto's companions......Page 465
15.2 Small cold worlds in the outer precincts of the planetary system......Page 467
15.3 Edge of the solar system......Page 470
16 Brave new worlds......Page 473
16.1 How the solar system came into being......Page 474
16.2 Newborn stars with planet-forming disks......Page 476
16.3 The plurality of worlds......Page 477
Pulsar planets......Page 479
Discovery of an unseen planet circling an ordinary star......Page 481
16.5 Hundreds of new worlds circling nearby stars......Page 483
16.6 Searching for habitable planets......Page 485
Author index......Page 489
Subject index......Page 491