Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the First Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 A brief history
- Chapter 2 The universe
- Chapter 3 Stars
- Chapter 4 The solar nebula
- Chapter 5 Composition and chemical evolution of the solar nebula
- Chapter 6 The evidence from meteorites
- Chapter 7 Building planets
- Chapter 8 The giant planets
- Chapter 9 Satellites and rings
- Chapter 10 The refugees
- Chapter 11 The survivors: Mercury and Mars
- Chapter 12 The twins: Venus and the Earth
- Chapter 13 The Moon
- Chapter 14 The role of impacts
- Chapter 15 Epilogue: on the difficulty of making Earth-like planets
- Name index
- Subject index
Preface to the First Edition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the First Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 A brief history
- Chapter 2 The universe
- Chapter 3 Stars
- Chapter 4 The solar nebula
- Chapter 5 Composition and chemical evolution of the solar nebula
- Chapter 6 The evidence from meteorites
- Chapter 7 Building planets
- Chapter 8 The giant planets
- Chapter 9 Satellites and rings
- Chapter 10 The refugees
- Chapter 11 The survivors: Mercury and Mars
- Chapter 12 The twins: Venus and the Earth
- Chapter 13 The Moon
- Chapter 14 The role of impacts
- Chapter 15 Epilogue: on the difficulty of making Earth-like planets
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
The true dimensions of the terrestrial globe were revealed mostly in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, principally through the technical development of truly ocean-going vessels and the magnetic compass, which enabled the exploration of the oceans. Even with these advantages, the real extent of the Great Southern Continent or terra australis incognita had to await the voyages of Cook in the eighteenth century. This flood of new geographic knowledge replaced the medieval view of the world (although Flat-Earth societies still persist). Such understanding was gained only very slowly. Adetailed knowledge of the topography of the ocean floors and our understanding of their composition and origin has been obtained only a little ahead of our radar pictures of the surface of Venus.
Our exploration of the solar system is at a similarly heroic stage. The distant points of light, barely resolvable in telescopes, have been revealed through the use of space vehicles, the latter-day equivalent of the Portuguese caravels, as separate worlds, with an astonishing amount of diversity.
The information has been rapidly and widely disseminated, electronic media having superseded the printing press of the Renaissance. Everyone is informed of the striking new discoveries. Although no Eldorados have emerged, the pictures reveal a plurality of worlds unimagined by the Elizabethans. Every satellite has turned out to differ in some significant feature from its neighbor: “… the sense of novelty would probably not have been greater if we had explored a different solar system” [1].
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Solar System EvolutionA New Perspective, pp. xiii - xviiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001