Weird Astronomical Theories of the Solar System and Beyond (Astronomers' Universe) Counterintuitive Notions about the Cosmos

After addressing strange cosmological hypotheses in Weird Universe, David Seargent tackles the no-less bizarre theories closer to home. Alternate views on the Solar System's formation, comet composition, and the evolution of life on Earth are only some of the topics he addresses in this new work. Although these ideas exist on the fringe of mainstream astronomy, they can still shed light on the origins of life and the evolution of the planets. Continuing the author's series of books popularizing strange astronomy facts and knowledge, Weird Astronomical Theories presents an approachable exploration of the still mysterious questions about the origin of comets, the pattern of mass extinctions on Earth, and more. The alternative theories discussed here do not come from untrained amateurs. The scientists whose work is covered includes the mid-20th century Russian S. K. Vsekhsvyatskii, cosmologist Max Tegmark, British astronomers Victor Clube and William Napier, and American Tom Van Flandern, a specialist in celestial mechanics who held a variety of unusual beliefs about the possibility of intelligent life having come from elsewhere. Despite being outliers, their work reveals how much astronomical understanding is still evolving. Unconventional approaches have also pushed our scientific understanding for the better, as with R.W. Mandl's approaching Einstein with regard to gravitational lensing. Even without full substantiation (and some theories are hardly credible), their hypotheses allow for a new perspective on how the Solar System became what it is today. Preface 8 Dedication 10 Acknowledgments 12 Contents 14 1: Is There a Cosmic Web of Life? 16 The Panspermia Hypothesis 17 Some More Exotic Versions of the Hypothesis 21 “Soft” Panspermia 23 Slightly Harder Panspermia 27 Are We Martians? 29 A Biological Universe? 37 The Case for Cometary Meteorites 42 The Murchison Meteorite—Out of the Silent Comet? 53 Diseases from Outer Space 62 Weird Correlations; Is the Encke/Whooping Cough Association Another One? 66 2: The Birth of the Solar System: Some Unconventional Ideas 70 The Two Conventional Alternatives 70 But Is Gravity Enough? 78 Planets Spun from the Sun? 85 Exploding Planets 88 Captured Moons and Martian Theme-Parks 101 Alien Intervention in Terrestrial Biology? 106 3: Focused Starlight, Cosmic Impacts and Life on Earth 114 Nature’s Ray Gun? 114 Biological Extinctions, Asteroidal Impacts and Other Things 120 What was the Asteroid’s Origin? 127 Periodic Extinctions? 132 A Star Passed By 139 But Are Comet Showers Necessarily Dangerous? 140 4: Comet Controversies 147 Are Comets Ejected by Planets, Their Moons ... and the Sun? 147 Do Jupiter’s Comets Quickly Fade Away? 155 Solar Comets? 160 Out of the Exploded Planet? 161 Electrical Comets? 171 Antimatter Comets 183 Cosmic Serpents and Cosmic Winters 188 The Celestial Swastika? 207 5: Weird Theories of a Weird Universe 216 The Cosmic Redshift and Electrostatic Repulsion 216 Max Tegmark’s Mathematical Universe 222 π in the Sky? 227 The Universe = Mathematics 231 Frog Perspectives and Bird Perspectives 235 A Universe of Universes? 237 But Is the Universe Really Mathematics—Or Is It Merely Mathematical? 245 Of Strings and Other Things 254 The Branes of the Universe 261 Appendix A: The Maribo Meteorite 270 Appendix B: The Sutter’s Mill ­Meteorite: A Taurid Connection? 274 Author Index 276 Subject Index 279 Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Is There a Cosmic Web of Life?....Pages 1-54 The Birth of the Solar System: Some Unconventional Ideas....Pages 55-98 Focused Starlight, Cosmic Impacts and Life on Earth....Pages 99-131 Comet Controversies....Pages 133-201 Weird Theories of a Weird Universe....Pages 203-256 Back Matter....Pages 257-270