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Life Beyond Earth : the Search for Habitable Worlds in the Universe.

An engaging account of our quest for habitable environments, recounting fascinating recent discoveries and providing insight into future space missions.

Detalles Bibliográficos
Clasificación:Libro Electrónico
Autor principal: Coustenis, Athena
Otros Autores: Encrenaz, Thérèse
Formato: Electrónico eBook
Idioma:Inglés
Publicado: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Temas:
Acceso en línea:Texto completo
Tabla de Contenidos:
  • Cover; Contents; Preface; 1 Introduction; 1.1 The quest for life; 1.2 The formation of planets; 1.2.1 Formation of the Solar System; 1.2.2 Migration in the Solar System; 1.2.3 Elemental and isotopic abundances as insights to the formation of the Solar System; 1.3 Looking for water; 2 What is life and where can it exist?; 2.1 The concept and conditions of life; 2.1.1 The building blocks of life; 2.1.2 Cells; 2.1.3 Origin of life on Earth; 2.1.4 Experiments on life: laboratory synthesis of amino acids; 2.1.5 Chirality and the specificities of human life.
  • 2.1.6 Another diagnostic for recognizing living matter: isotopic ratios of carbon2.2 Definition of life and how to look for it outside its usual environment; 2.2.1 Can we completely define life?; 2.2.2 Extreme conditions on Earth today; 2.2.3 Other possible forms of life; 2.3 What is a habitable zone (a habitat)?; 2.3.1 Classical concept of the habitability zone; 2.3.2 Extension of the habitable zone; 2.3.3 Prebiotic chemistry; 2.4 Searching for extraterrestrial life: from habitats to civilizations; 2.4.1 Could there be extraterrestrial civilizations?; 2.4.2 Searching for habitats.
  • 2.4.3 Searching with what?3 Terrestrial planets and their diverging evolutions; 3.1 Looking out from Mercury's desert; 3.2 A past ocean on Venus?; 3.3 Life on Mars? An old quest and a modern challenge; 3.3.1 Schiaparelli's canali; 3.3.2 The Viking mission, or the search for life; 3.3.3 'Follow the water!'; 3.3.4 The mystery of ALH84001; 3.4 Between Venus and Mars, the Earth. . .; 3.5 Water on Earth: where did it come from?; 3.6 Earth's companion, the Moon; 3.7 Between terrestrial and giant planets, the asteroids; 4 Searching for habitable sites in the outer Solar System.
  • 4.1 The outer Solar System: a huge reservoir of frozen water4.2 Jupiter's satellites; 4.2.1 Europa; 4.2.2 Ganymede; 4.2.3 Future exploration of Jovian satellites; 4.3 Saturn's satellites; 4.3.1 Titan: organic factory and habitat; 4.3.1.1 Titan's organic chemistry throughout the atmosphere; 4.3.1.2 Methane-based biology and the lakes; 4.3.1.3 Subsurface ocean on Titan; 4.3.1.4 Titan and the primitive Earth; 4.3.2 Enceladus: water pockets far from the Sun; 4.3.3 Future exploration of Kronian satellites; 4.4 Comets; 4.4.1 Comets: back to the origins.
  • 4.4.2 Origin of comets: two distinct reservoirs4.4.3 What are comets made of?; 4.4.4 Isotopic ratios and ortho/para ratios; 4.4.5 Comets and the origin of life; 4.5 At the orbit of Neptune and beyond; 4.5.1 Cryovolcanic Triton; 4.5.2 Trans-Neptunian objects; 5 A revolution in astronomy: the exploration of extrasolar planets; 5.1 From dream to reality; 5.1.1 The key to success: velocimetry; 5.1.2 Giant exoplanets close to their stars; 5.1.3 Formation and migration in planetary systems; 5.1.4 How to detect exoplanets from planetary transits; 5.1.5 Gravitational microlensing.