Origin of the Solar System

Abstract

THE spectroscopic study of the planets has made great advances in the last ten or fifteen years, and in the present book a distinguished astrophysicist gives a summary of the results and their application to the problem of the origin of the solar system. We now know that Neptune's rotation is direct, though the revolution of its satellite is retrograde, so that the satellite must be approaching the planet, like Phobos. The temperatures of the planets have been measured and found to be in fair agreement with those that would be maintained by solar radiation ; the surfaces of the great planets are at liquid air temperatures or less, as was predicted by me in 1922. The compositions of the visible parts of the sun and planets are now known ; the great planets have atmospheres consisting mainly of ammonia and methane, and Venus one of carbon dioxide.

The Solar System and its Origin

By Henry Norris Russell. Pp. vii + 144. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1935.) 8s. 6d. net.