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.
