The formation of the solar system : theories old and new
This book traces the development of ideas about the origin of the Solar System from ancient times to the present day. A survey of more modern ideas, covering the last 200 years or so, highlights the difficulties experienced by theories and also points the way towards the development of a more successful theory. In particular, the current "standard model"--The Solar Nebula Theory - is examined and discussed in some detail. After more than thirty years of development, this theory has still not settled down into an agreed form, as it experiences both theoretical difficulties and problems with reconciling new observations. By contrast, the Capture Theory, developed over the last forty years by the author, and supported by recent observations provides a complete description of the formation of the Solar System, including an evolutionary hypothesis that explains the detailed structure of the system. Written in an informative yet accessible manner, this book will appeal to both specialist and non-specialist readers alike
eBook, English, ©2007
Imperial College Press ; Distributed by World Scientific Pub. Co., London, Hackensack, NJ, ©2007
1 online resource (xxii, 318 pages) : illustrations (some color)
9781860948411, 9781281867636, 1860948413, 1281867632
646768983
Ch. 1. Theories come and theories go
ch. 2. Measuring atoms and the universe
ch. 3. Greek offerings
ch. 4. The shoulders of giants
ch. 5. A voyage of discovery to the solar system
ch. 6. The problem to be solved
ch. 7. The French connection
ch. 8. American Catherine-Wheels
ch. 9. British big tides
ch. 10. Russian could capture-with British help
ch. 11. German vortices-with a little French help
ch. 12. McCrea's floccules
ch. 13. What earlier theories indicate
ch. 14. Disks around new stars
ch. 15. Planets around other stars
ch. 16. Disks around older stars
ch. 17. What a theory should explain now
ch. 18. The new Solar Nebula theory: the angular momentum problem
ch. 19. Making planets top-down
ch. 20. A bottom-up alternative
ch. 21. Making planets faster
ch. 22. Wandering planets
ch. 23. Back to top-down
ch. 24. This is the stuff that stars are made of
ch. 25. Making dense cool clouds
ch. 26. A star is born
ch. 27. Close to the maddening crowd
ch. 28. Close encounters of the stellar kind
ch. 29. Ever decreasing circles
ch. 30. How many planetary systems?
ch. 31. Starting a family
ch. 32. Tilting-but not as windmills
ch. 33. The terrestrial planets raise problems!
ch. 34. A British Bang theory: the earth and Venus
ch. 35. Behold the wandering moon
ch. 36. Fleet Mercury and warlike Mars
ch. 37. Gods of the sea and the nether regions
ch. 38. Bits and pieces
ch. 39. Comets-the harbingers of doom!
ch. 40. Making atoms with a biggish bang
ch. 41. Is the capture theory valid?
English