How to find a habitable planet /
"Ever since Carl Sagan first predicted that extraterrestrial civilizations must number in the millions, the search for life on other planets has gripped our imagination. Is Earth so rare that advanced life forms like us--or even the simplest biological organisms--are unique to the universe? How...
Clasificación: | Libro Electrónico |
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Autor principal: | |
Formato: | Electrónico eBook |
Idioma: | Inglés |
Publicado: |
Princeton, N.J. ; Woodstock :
Princeton University Press,
2012.
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Colección: | Science essentials (National Academy of Sciences (U.S.))
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Temas: | |
Acceso en línea: | Texto completo |
Tabla de Contenidos:
- Cover Page
- Half-title Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I: Introduction
- Chapter 1: Past Thinking about Earth-Like Planets and Life
- The Habitable Zone and the Importance of Liquid Water
- Carl Sagan and the Drake Equation
- Other Perspectives on Planetary Habitability: Rare Earth and Gaia
- Part II: Our Habitable Planet Earth
- Chapter 2: Critical Updates on How Planets Are Built
- The Conventional Wisdom regarding Planet Formation
- Where Did Earth's Water Come From?
- New Models for Planetary Accretion and Delivery of Water
- Could Earth's Water Have Come from Comets?
- An Up-to-Date Simulation of Planetary Accretion
- Chapter 3: Long-Term Climate Stability
- Solar Evolution Theory
- Solar Mass Loss?
- Electromagnetic Radiation and the Greenhouse Effect
- Planetary Energy Balance
- The Faint Young Sun Problem
- Possible Solutions to the Problem
- The Carbonate- Silicate Cycle and Controls on Atmospheric CO2
- The CO2-Climate Feedback Loop
- Chapter 4: More Wrinkles in Earth's Climate History
- The Phanerozoic Climate Record
- Precambrian Climate
- Geologic Evidence for the Rise of Atmospheric O2
- Cause of the O2 Rise: Cyanobacteria
- Methane, Methanogens, and the Universal Tree of Life
- The Archean Methane Greenhouse
- The Paleoproterozoic Glaciation
- Chapter 5: Runaway Glaciation and "Snowball Earth"
- Milankovitch Cycles and the Recent Ice Ages
- Ice Albedo Feedback and Climatic Instability
- Evidence for Low- Latitude Glaciation
- Mechanisms for Explaining Low- Latitude Glaciation
- Snowball Earth
- Part III: Limits to Planetary Habitability
- Chapter 6: Runaway Greenhouses and the Evolution of Venus' Atmosphere
- The History of Water on Venus
- The Classical Runaway Greenhouse Effect
- An Alternative Runaway Greenhouse Model
- Evolution of Venus' Atmosphere
- Chapter 7: The Future Evolution of Earth
- High- CO2 Atmospheres and Temperature Limits for Life
- Future Solar Evolution and Lifetime of the Biosphere
- A Geoengineering Solution to Solar Luminosity Increases
- Chapter 8: The Martian Climate Puzzle
- Evidence for Liquid Water near Mars' Surface
- CH4 in Mars' Atmosphere?
- Evidence That Water Flowed in Mars' Distant Past
- When Did the Martian Valleys Form?
- How Warm Was Early Mars?
- Mechanisms for Warming Early Mars
- Where Are the Carbonates?
- Chapter 9: Is the Earth Rare?
- Planetary Size / Magnetic Fields
- Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation
- Availability of Nitrogen and the Importance of N2
- Is Plate Tectonics Common?
- A Planet's Impact Environment
- Stabilization of Earth's Obliquity by the Moon
- Chapter 10: Habitable Zones around Stars
- Historical Attempts to Define the Habitable Zone