Habitability and Cosmic Catastrophes

The solar system has a rather well-known history. Looking at the present situation, one might get the impression that it was a rather stable and well-defined system: the orbits of the planets appear to be stable, climate and atmospheres on the planets have been determined, the risk of collision with...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hanslmeier, Arnold
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Berlin, Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2009, 2009
Edition:1st ed. 2009
Series:Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: Springer eBooks 2005- - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 02654nmm a2200373 u 4500
001 EB000379916
003 EBX01000000000000000232968
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 130626 ||| eng
020 |a 9783540769453 
100 1 |a Hanslmeier, Arnold 
245 0 0 |a Habitability and Cosmic Catastrophes  |h Elektronische Ressource  |c by Arnold Hanslmeier 
250 |a 1st ed. 2009 
260 |a Berlin, Heidelberg  |b Springer Berlin Heidelberg  |c 2009, 2009 
300 |a XIV, 248 p  |b online resource 
505 0 |a Habitable zones -- Properties and Environments of Life -- Stars and Galaxies -- Planetary Systems -- Catastrophes in Our Solar System? -- Catastrophes in Extrasolar Planetary Systems? -- The Solar Neighborhood -- The Search for Extraterrestrial Life 
653 |a Radiation Dosimetry and Protection 
653 |a Planetary Science 
653 |a Planetary science 
653 |a Environment 
653 |a Radiation dosimetry 
653 |a Astrobiology 
653 |a Environmental Sciences 
653 |a Space Physics 
653 |a Astrophysics 
653 |a Solar system 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b Springer  |a Springer eBooks 2005- 
490 0 |a Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics 
028 5 0 |a 10.1007/978-3-540-76945-3 
856 4 0 |u https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76945-3?nosfx=y  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 576.839 
520 |a The solar system has a rather well-known history. Looking at the present situation, one might get the impression that it was a rather stable and well-defined system: the orbits of the planets appear to be stable, climate and atmospheres on the planets have been determined, the risk of collision with other bodies (comets, asteroids, meteorites) seems to be small. However it is known today that the evolution of life on Earth was neither a steady progression nor uniform. There were several periods of mass extinction. These catastrophic events played a crucial role in the rise of new species. Events of astrophysical origin include: • Asteroid impacts • Major solar variabilty (space weather) • Nearby supernovae • The passage of the solar system through dense interstellar clouds Catastrophic cosmic events of this type appear in the range of some 100 million years. The author discusses whether and how such events could have occurred in the solar system as well as in recently found extrasolar planetary systems. In this text, which addresses readers in the field of Astrophysics and Astrobiology but also Geophysics and Biology these cosmic catastrophic events are described at an intermediate student's level