CometWhat are these graceful visitors to our skies? We now know that they bring both life and death and teach us about our origins. Comet begins with a breathtaking journey through space astride a comet. Pulitzer Prize-winning astronomer Carl Sagan, author of Cosmos and Contact, and writer Ann Druyan explore the origin, nature, and future of comets, and the exotic myths and portents attached to them. The authors show how comets have spurred some of the great discoveries in the history of science and raise intriguing questions about these brilliant visitors from the interstellar dark. Were the fates of the dinosaurs and the origins of humans tied to the wanderings of a comet? Are comets the building blocks from which worlds are formed? Lavishly illustrated with photographs and specially commissioned full-color paintings, Comet is an enthralling adventure, indispensable for anyone who has ever gazed up at the heavens and wondered why. Praise for Comet "Simply the best." —The Times of London "Fascinating, evocative, inspiring." —The Washington Post "Comet humanizes science. A beautiful, interesting book." —United Press International "Masterful . . . science, poetry, and imagination." —The Atlanta Journal & Constitution |
Contents
3 | |
13 | |
3Halley | 39 |
4The Time of the Return | 75 |
5Rogue Comets | 94 |
6Ice | 108 |
A Summary So Far | 129 |
8Poison Gas and Organic Matter | 144 |
Mementos of Creation | 212 |
The Ghosts of Comets Past | 227 |
14Scattered Fires and Shattered Worlds | 246 |
1 The Great Dying | 269 |
2 A Modern Myth? | 291 |
The Enchanted Region | 306 |
Comets and the Future | 323 |
18A Flotilla Rising | 325 |
9Tails | 156 |
A Cometary Bestiary | 172 |
Origins and Fates of the Comets | 195 |
At the Heart of a Trillion Worlds | 197 |
19Stars of the Great Captains | 337 |
A Mote of Dust | 356 |
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Common terms and phrases
apparition asteroids astronomers Astronomical Units atoms bright called carbon century Chapter chemical close collision coma comet appears Comet Halley cometary nucleus cometary orbits constellation cosmic Courtesy craters Cretaceous dark debris Diagram by Jon disk distance dust Earth Earth's atmosphere eccentric orbits Edmond Halley ejected elliptical Flamsteed formed fragments Galaxy grains gravitational Halley's Comet heat heavens Hevelius human hundred hydrogen imagine impact inner solar system interplanetary interstellar ion tail iridium jets Jon Lomberg Jon Lomberg/BPS Jupiter Kant Laplace layer light long-period comets Mars mass extinctions meteor shower meteorites methane Milky Moon motion moving NEOs Newton objects observations Observatory ocean Oort Cloud origin particles perhaps perihelion perihelion passage period planetary planets produced rotation Saturn scientific scientists seen short-period comets solar nebula solar wind space spacecraft stratosphere Sun's sunlight surface swastika tails of comets telescope temperature thousand tion Tycho universe vapor Venus water ice zodiacal