Meteorites

A Journey Through Space and Time

By: Alex Bevan, John de Laeter

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Hardcover | 17 April 2002

At a Glance

Hardcover
256 Pages

Age
14+

Grade
9+

Dimensions(cm)
27.9 x 22.9

Hardcover

$61.75

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Meteorites - the fragments of space debris that survive their fall to Earth - have much to tell us. They hold the answers to the complexities of star formation and can explain the earliest events in the birth of the solar system. They also may have brought to Earth the water in the oceans, gases of the atmosphere, and other essential ingredients for the evolution of life.
This book is an expertly guided look at meteorites. The authors trace the formation and breakup of planets, asteroids, and comets from which meteorites have originated, their long journey through space, their fall to Earth, their recovery, and the wealth of information they hold for scientists. The authors discuss recent evidence from the "84001 Martin meteorite," which has raised provocative new questions about life on the red planet. Looking forward, the authors chart the exciting new era of planetary, asteroidal, and cometary exploration planned for this century.
The 250 color illustrations that illuminate the text present some of the most stunning images of these ancient voyagers.

Industry Reviews

"Although it does touch on legends and anecdotes about meteorites, this pictorial survey mainly delves into why the experts value every find: each one contains geochemical clues about the origin of the solar system. Bevan and de Laeter deliver the central facts on the radioactive dating that yields ages for a meteorite's formation and its time in space and on the ground. Dating is straightforward; more debatable, and what makes meteoritics a lively science, is figuring out from a meteorite's constituent minerals and crystals the conditions of temperature and pressure during its creation. Some, for example, contain microscopic diamonds, a sign they formed in supernovae shock waves before our Sun existed. Another reason scientists covet these extraterrestrial rocks and dust, explain the authors, is the indication they give of traffic congestion in our neighborhood, a concern with cosmic catastrophe reinforced by the album's photos and diagrams of craters on Earth. Informative and visually appealing, this title meets any library's need for a basic source on meteorites."--Gilbert Taylor, Booklist

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