Contents --- Solar System Fluff

• Introduction
• Asteroids
• Meteorites
  • Stones
  • Stoney-Irons
  • Irons
  • Finding Meteorites
• Radioactive Dating
  • Radioactive Dating Method
  • If Amount of Original Is Not Known
  • Is Radioactive Dating Valid?
• Effects of Asteroid Impact on Earth
  • Explosion (what size crater?)
  • Tsunami (huge tidal wave if its ocean)
  • Global Firestorm (fires around the globe)
  • Acid Rain (nitrous and nitric acid)
  • Temperature Effects (first impact winter, then greenhouse heat)
  • Finding Near-Earth Objects
  • Deflecting and Using Asteroids
• Review Questions
• Comets
  • Nucleus
  • Coma
  • Tails
  • Hydrogen Cloud
• Comet Orbits---Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt
  • Oort Cloud
  • Kuiper Belt
• Comet Beginnings and Ends
  • Other Comet Sites on the Web
• Review Questions
• Solar System Formation
  • Observables. Twelve observations that the solar system formation model must account for.
  • Condensation Model
  • Review Questions
• Testing the Theory: Other Planetary Systems
  • Detection methods
    • Direct Imaging
    • Astrometry (star wobbles)
    • Doppler shifts
    • Transits
    • Microlensing
  • Results and Testing the Theory
  • Extrasolar Planets Web Sites
  • Review Questions
• More Solar System References

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