TABLE OF CONTENTS: Preface xi
PART 1: Overview of the Solar System
I. A Brief History of the Solar System 3
II. Where Are We? The Location of the Solar System 17
III. Heat Sources 33
PART 2: Earth and Moon
IV. The Magnetic Earth 47
V. Ice Ages 63
VI. Origin of the Moon 84
PART 3: Small Bodies, Impacts, and Rings
VII. Asteroids and Meteorites 99
VIII. What Heated the Asteroids? 118
IX. Mesosiderites: Biography of a Shocked and Melted Asteroid 129
X. Meteor Crater 143
XI. The Lunar Crater Controversy--a Brief Retelling 158
XII. Dinosaurs and the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction 167
XIII. Recent Impacts: Tunguska to Shoemaker-Levy 9 183
XIV. Tektites: A Glass Menagerie 200
XV. Rings and Shepherds 215
PART 4: Life beyond Earth
XVI. The Search for Life on Mars 235
XVII. Panspermia 259
XVIII. Paucity of Aliens 281
XIX. Human Response to First Contact 299
Epilogue 321
Glossary 325
Additional Reading 343
Index 353
Return to Book Description File created: 4/23/2008 | 
