On the origin of planets : by means of natural simple processes / / Michael M. Woolfson

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910807809103321
• Autore: Woolfson M. M
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: London, : Imperial College Press, c2011
• ISBN: 1-84816-600-1; 1-283-14346-1; 9786613143464
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (492 p.)
• Disciplina: 523.2
• Soggetti: Planets - Origin
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Preface; Contents; An Historical Sketch of the Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Planets; 1. Observations of Stars; 2. Producing Protostars - Embryonic Stars; 3. The Life and Death of a Star; 4. The Evolution of a Galactic Cluster; 5. Exoplanets - Planets Around Other Stars; 6. The Formation of Planets: The Capture Theory; 7. Orbital Evolution; 8. The Frequency of Planetary Systems; 9. Satellite Formation; 10. Features of the Solar System; 11. Interactions Between Planets; 12. The Moon; 13. Mars and Mercury; 14. Neptune, Triton and Pluto; 15. Dwarf Planets, Asteroids, Comets and the Kuiper Belt16. Meteorites: Their Physical and Chemical Properties; 17. Isotopic Anomalies in Meteorites; 18. Overview and Conclusions; Appendix A: Angular Momentum; Appendix B: Equipotential Surfaces of a Tidally Distorted Star; Appendix C: The Instability of a Gaseous Filament; Appendix D: The Jeans Critical Mass; Appendix E: The Lynden-Bell and Pringle Mechanism; Appendix F: Grains in Molecular Clouds; Appendix G: The Structure of a Spiral Galaxy; Appendix H: The Centre of Mass and the Orbits of Binary Stars; Appendix I: The Doppler Effect; Appendix J: Atomic Energy Levels and Stellar SpectraAppendix K: Stellar Masses from Observations of Binary Systems; Appendix L: Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics; Appendix M: Free-Fall Collapse; Appendix N: Fragmentation and Binary Characteristics; Appendix O: Spin Slowing Due to a Stellar wind; Appendix P: The Virial Theorem and Kelvin-; Helmholtz Contraction; Appendix Q: The Lifetime of Stars on the Main Sequence; Appendix R: The Eddington Accretion Mechanism; Appendix S: The Mass and Orbit of an Exoplanet; Appendix T: Radiation Pressure and the Poynting-Robertson Effect; Appendix U: Active Stars and Their Effect on a Stellar DiskAppendix V: The Structure and Decay of a Stellar Disk; Appendix W: The Formation of Exoplanets; Appendix X: Disrupting a Planetary System; Appendix Y: From Dust to Satellitesimals; Appendix Z: From Satellitesimals to Satellites; Appendix AA: The Tidal Heating of Io; Appendix AB: The Trojan Asteroids; Appendix AC: Orbital Precession; Appendix AD: The Temperature Generated by Colliding Planets; Appendix AE: Heating by Deuterium-Based Reactions; Appendix AF: The Thermal Evolution of the Moon; Appendix AG: The Abrasion of a Hemisphere of the MoonAppendix AH: The Rounding-off of a Highly Eccentric Satellite Orbit; Appendix AI: Continental Drift on Mars; Appendix AJ: The Oort Cloud and Perturbing Stars; Appendix AK: Planetary Perturbation of New Comets; Appendix AL: Reactions and Decays; Appendix AM: Cooling and Grain Formation; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: The book begins with a historical review of four major theories for the origin of the Solar System in particular, or of planets in general, which highlight the major problems that need to be solved by any plausible theory. In many theories, including that which form the major theme of this book, the formation of planets and stars is intimately linked, so four chapters are devoted to the processes that can be described as the birth, life and death of stars. Recent observations that have revealed the existence of planets around many Sun-like stars are described in detail, followed by a clear exp