Chemistry of Space Book

Preface     vii
Introduction     ix
The Birth of the Universe     1
In the Beginning     1
Georges Edouard Lemaitre (1894-1966)     2
A Cooling Universe     5
Particle Decay     7
The Formation of Compound Particles     8
And Then There Were Atoms     11
Is the Theory True?     13
George Gamow (1904-1968)     16
Where to Next?     19
The Chemistry of Interstellar Space     21
The Composition of the Interstellar Medium     22
Interstellar Clouds     29
Robert Julius Trumpler (1886-1956)     30
Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium     34
Tools for Studying the Chemical Characteristics of the ISM     39
Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst (1918-2000)     46
Formation of the Heavy Elements     47
Stellar Evolution     48
Classifying stars     49
Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941)     50
A Star Is Born     55
Turning Hydrogen into Helium     61
Helium Burning...and Beyond     66
Bigger Stars = More Elements     69
Margaret Burbidge (1919- ) and GeoffreyBurbidge (1925- )     74
The Inner Planets     81
Studying the Chemical Composition of a Planet     82
Mercury     90
Venus     94
The Hubble Space Telescope     108
Mars     111
Asaph Hall (1829-1907)     122
The Outer Planets     126
Missions to the Outer Planets     127
Jupiter     132
S. Alan Stern (1957- )     134
The Jovian Moons     143
Saturn     151
Uranus     156
Neptune     161
Pluto     164
James E. Webb (1906-1992)     165
Kuiper Belt Objects     167
Gerard Peter Kuiper (1905-1973)     168
Comets, Meteors, Asteroids, and the Moon     171
Comets     172
Edmund Halley (1656-1742)     176
Meteors, Meteoroids, and Meteorites     192
Asteroids     202
The Moon     216
Conclusion     227
Glossary     229
Further Reading     235
Index     239