Rain Of Iron And Ice: The Very Real Threat Of Comet And Asteroid BombardmentIn the first book for the general reader that presents the full range of scientific evidence for past and possibly future dangers, noted planetologist and impact-crater expert John S. Lewis shows us the unmistakable evidence - from space-probe flybys of the planets to the scars on our own Earth - of cataclysmic comet and asteroid impacts. By comparing what we know about the earth's geology and paleontology with the images of the other planets and moons in our solar system, Lewis makes the strongest case yet for sudden, dramatic extinctions and assesses the risks to planet Earth. Not even Darwin was aware of the events now seen as having played such a crucial role in the evolution of life on earth. Lewis tells of the dangers to our civilization, dangers in the form of near-earth asteroids, or NEAs, whose impact could destroy in an instant what it has taken humans millennia to build. Finally, he describes the searches and preventive measures being undertaken today by scientists around the globe to ward off this threat from space. |
Contents
STONES THAT FALL FROM THE | 10 |
STEALTH WEAPONS FROM SPACE | 46 |
5 | 61 |
Copyright | |
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Rain Of Iron And Ice: The Very Real Threat Of Comet And Asteroid Bombardment John S. Lewis No preview available - 1997 |
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aerial explosion airbursts altitude astronomical atmosphere blast wave bodies breakup brilliant fireballs Building hit Building struck burned caused century chapter close cloud cometary comets and asteroids death toll debris devastating discovery distance dust Earth Earth's orbit earthquake effects energy escape velocity evidence extinctions eyewitness fell fire fireball flyby fragments geological giant gigaton global ground hazard heat height hundred images impact craters impact events impactor iron meteorites Jupiter killed kilometers per second kilotons large impacts launched layer Leonids Mariner Mars mass material megatons Mercury meteorite falls million Moon NASA near-Earth asteroid NEAS nuclear weapons observed occur ocean orbital period ordinary chondrite percent perihelion photographic planet population radar records reported rock satellites seen shock shower solar system Soviet space spacecraft Spacewatch spectacular speed square kilometers stones storms surface target telescopes thousand tidal wave tiny tion Tom Gehrels tsunami Tunguska Venus volcanic