Edited By: Paul Thomas, RD Hicks, Christopher Chyba and Christopher McKay
346 pages, 65 illus., 13 in colour
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About this book
Nine years after the publication of Comets and the Origin and Evolution of Life, one of the pioneering books in Astrobiology, this second edition revisits the role comets may have played in the origins and evolution of life. Recent analyses of Antarctic micrometeorites and ancient rocks in Australia and South Africa, the continuing progress in discovering complex organic macromolecules in comets, protostars and interstellar clouds, new insights into organic synthesis in comets, and numerical simulations of comet impacts on the Earth and other members of the solar system yield a spectacular wealth of new results.
This second edition is thus actually a new book. As the first edition it is intended as a comprehensive review of current research, accessible to graduate students and others new to the field. Each chapter was prepared by experts to give an overview of an aspect of the field, and carefully revised by the editors for uniformity in style and presentation.
Contents
Comets and the origins and evolution of life; the origins of the atmosphere and of the oceans; organic chemistry in comets from remote and in-situ observations; polmers and other macromolecules in comets; numerical simulations of comet and asteroid impacts; cometary delivery of prebiotic organic molecules to the early Earth; impacts and the early evolution of life; cometary impacts on the biosphere; the contemporary hazard of cometary impacts; A1-26 and liquid-water environments in comets; life in comets; comets and space missions.
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Edited By: Paul Thomas, RD Hicks, Christopher Chyba and Christopher McKay
346 pages, 65 illus., 13 in colour
Aus den Rezensionen zur 2. Auflage: "! das aktuellste und wichtigste Buch zu diesem Thema ! Die Buchbeitrage geben einen Einblick in die neuen Erkenntnisse uber Kometen ! und beschreiben die kometaren Einwirkungen auf Atmosphare und Ozeane ! Das exzellente Buch !" (in: The Science Fiction Jahr 2008, 2008, S. 790 f.)