A Reasonable Frugality

2011 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 175-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wiggins
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Red Giant ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
Better Than

1. I begin with a citation from Our Final Century. Its author is Sir Martin Rees, the current President of the Royal Society. A race of scientifically advanced extra-terrestrials watching our solar system could confidently [have predicted] that Earth would face doom in another 6 billion years, when the sun in its death throes swells up into a ‘red giant’ and vaporizes everything remaining on our planet's surface. But could they have predicted this unprecedented spasm [visible already] less than half way through Earth's life – these million human-induced alterations occupying, overall, less than a millionth of our planet's elapsed lifetime and seemingly occurring with runaway speed? ….It may not be absurd hyperbole – indeed, it may not be an overstatement – to assert that the most crucial location in space and time (apart from the big bang itself) could be here and now. I think that the odds are no better than 50-50 that our present civilization on Earth will survive to the end of the present century without a serious setback….Our choices and actions could ensure the perpetual future of life… or, in contrast, through malign intent or through misadventure, misdirected technology could jeopardize life's potential, foreclosing its human and post-human future.

scholarly journals Abundances of hydrogen and helium isotopes in the Protosolar Cloud

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S268) ◽  
pp. 71-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Geiss ◽  
George Gloeckler
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Density Profiles ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
System 2 ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

AbstractFor our understanding of the origin and evolution of baryonic matter in the Universe, the Protosolar Cloud (PSC) is of unique importance in two ways: 1) Up to now, many of the naturally occurring nuclides have only been detected in the solar system. 2) Since the time of solar system formation, the Sun and planets have been virtually isolated from the galactic nuclear evolution, and thus the PSC is a galactic sample with a degree of evolution intermediate between the Big Bang and the present.The abundances of the isotopes of hydrogen and helium in the Protosolar Cloud are primarily derived from composition measurements in the solar wind, the Jovian atmosphere and “planetary noble gases” in meteorites, and also from observations of density profiles inside the Sun. After applying the changes in isotopic and elemental composition resulting from processes in the solar wind, the Sun and Jupiter, PSC abundances of the four lightest stable nuclides are given.

The Planet in a Pebble

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Zalasiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Forensic Analysis ◽  
Mineral Matter ◽  
Supernova Explosions ◽  
Deep Underground ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

This is the story of a single pebble. It is just a normal pebble, as you might pick up on holiday - on a beach in Wales, say. Its history, though, carries us into abyssal depths of time, and across the farthest reaches of space. This is a narrative of the Earth's long and dramatic history, as gleaned from a single pebble. It begins as the pebble-particles form amid unimaginable violence in distal realms of the Universe, in the Big Bang and in supernova explosions and continues amid the construction of the Solar System. Jan Zalasiewicz shows the almost incredible complexity present in such a small and apparently mundane object. Many events in the Earth's ancient past can be deciphered from a pebble: volcanic eruptions; the lives and deaths of extinct animals and plants; the alien nature of long-vanished oceans; and transformations deep underground, including the creations of fool's gold and of oil. Zalasiewicz demonstrates how geologists reach deep into the Earth's past by forensic analysis of even the tiniest amounts of mineral matter. Many stories are crammed into each and every pebble around us. It may be small, and ordinary, this pebble - but it is also an eloquent part of our Earth's extraordinary, never-ending story.

2. Planet Earth

2018 ◽  
pp. 6-21
Author(s):  
William Lowrie
Keyword(s):  
Big Bang ◽  
Chandler Wobble ◽  
Planetary Motion ◽  
Milankovitch Cycles ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Conservation Of Energy ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Law ◽  
Physical Laws ◽  
The Big Bang

Two important physical laws determine the behaviour of the Earth as a planet and the relationship between the Sun and its planets: the law of conservation of energy and the law of conservation of angular momentum. ‘Planet Earth’ explains these laws along with the ‘Big Bang’ theory that describes the formation of the solar system: the Sun; the eight planets divided into the inner, terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars) and the outer, giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune); and the Trans-Neptunian objects that lie beyond Neptune. Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, the Chandler wobble, the effects of the Moon and Jupiter on the Earth’s rotation, and the Milankovitch cycles of climatic variation are also discussed.

scholarly journals Division X: Radio Astronomy

2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-227
Author(s):  
James M. Moran
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Radio Astronomy ◽  
Radio Galaxies ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Common Theme ◽  
Radar Measurements ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Vast Range

Division X provides a common theme for astronomers using radio techniques to study a vast range of phenomena in the Universe, from exploring the Earth’s ionosphere or making radar measurements in the solar system, via mapping the distribution of gas and molecules in our own and other galaxies, to the study of previous vast explosive processes in radio galaxies and QSOs and the faint afterglow of the Big Bang itself.

DIVISION X: RADIO ASTRONOMY

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (T26B) ◽  
pp. 201-203
Author(s):  
Luis F. Rodriguez ◽  
Ren-Dong Nan ◽  
Lucia Padrielli ◽  
Philip J. Diamond ◽  
Gloria M. Dubner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Radio Astronomy ◽  
Radio Galaxies ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Common Theme ◽  
Radar Measurements ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Vast Range

Division X provides a common theme for astronomers using radio techniques to study a vast range of phenomena in the Universe, from exploring the Earth's ionosphere or making radar measurements in the Solar System, via mapping the distribution of gas and molecules in our own Galaxy and in other galaxies, to study the vast explosive processes in radio galaxies and QSOs and the faint afterglow of the Big Bang itself.

Conclusion

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Ingersoll
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Giant Planets ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Better Than

This concluding chapter discusses some of the lessons that can be learned from studying the planets and planetary climates. It first considers the general principles that turned out to be right; for example, size and distance from the Sun matter. The larger objects are able to hold on to their atmospheres better than the small objects. The outer solar system is hydrogen rich and the inner solar system is oxygen rich; as one moves away from the Sun different substances take on different roles. There are also assumptions that proved inaccurate; such was the case for Venus, Mars, and the moons of the giant planets. The chapter also asks whether the study of planetary climates provides lessons for Earth, whether the study of planets has informed us about the likelihood of extraterrestrial life, and whether it has made the development of extraterrestrial life seem more likely.

4. What are planets made of?

2021 ◽  
pp. 47-75
Author(s):  
Raymond T. Pierrehumbert
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Heavy Elements ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
First Stars ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

‘What are planets made of?’ assesses what planets are made of, beginning by looking at the life cycle of stars, and the kinds of stars which populate the Universe. Although the first stars of the Universe could not have formed planetary systems, the process did not take long to get under way. The Milky Way galaxy formed not long after the Big Bang and has been building its stock of heavy elements ever since. Thus, our Solar System incorporates ingredients from a mix of myriad expired stars, most of which have been processed multiple times through short-lived stars.

Preface

1974 ◽  
Vol 336 (1604) ◽  
pp. 3-4
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Physical System ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Astronomical Society ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society ◽  
Long Course ◽  
Nicolaus Copernicus

On 1973 January 25 the Royal Society with the support of the Royal Astronomical Society celebrated the quincentenary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus by a symposium on planetary science followed by a reception. The work of Copernicus opened the way to sensible studies of the Sun and planets as a physical system and, down the long course of history, this has led directly to the emergence of almost the whole of modern physical science. As the symposium lectures (chapters 2-5 of this volume) abundantly demonstrate, however, at this present time there is a greater and more productive interest in the physics of the Solar System itself than there has been, it could well be claimed, since the work of Newton which, through that of Kepler, depended so essentially upon the work of Copernicus.

Could God Have Made the Big Bang? (On Theistic Counterfactuals)

Dialogue ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20
Author(s):  
Duncan Macintosh
Keyword(s):  
Big Bang ◽  
Will Emit ◽  
Initial States ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Big Bang Singularity ◽  
Infinite Temperature ◽  
P 53 ◽  
Better Than

That the universe began in a big bang is often believed by theists to confirm divine creation ex nihilo. But Quentin Smith claims that it means God must not exist. For if he does, there is an earliest state E of the universe. God made E. E is ensured either to contain animate creatures or to lead to an animate state. For God would know that an animate universe is better than an inanimate one, and that even a minimally morally good being would be obliged to create one if he could. And God, being at least minimally mor-ally good, and all-powerful, would be able and inclined to ensure the existence of one (p. 53). But science says that E is inanimate since the big bang singularity (E) involves the life-hostile conditions of infinite temperature, curvature and density; also that it is inherently unpredictable and lawless so that there is no guarantee it will emit particles that will evolve into an animate state. Thus £ is not ensured to lead to an animate state (p. 53), and thus God could not have made E. So, God does not exist (p. 54). Smith: “There are countless logically possible initial states of the universe that lead by a natural and law-like evolution to animate states and if God had created the universe he would have selected one of these” (p. 58).

The big bang — ‘free lunch’ at the Royal Society

Nature ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 296 (5857) ◽  
pp. 490-491
Author(s):  
Craig Hogan
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Free Lunch ◽  
The Big Bang
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