Charles S. Cockell - Astrobiology

9 Chapter 9Figure 9.1 The local galactic cluster showing the Milky Way Galaxy.Figure 9.2 The events following the Big Bang.Figure 9.3 Hubble's Law. A simple schematic graph showing the distance–veloc...Figure 9.4 Schematic showing the proton–proton chain in the cores of low mas...Figure 9.5 The triple alpha reaction. The numbers of protons and neutrons ar...Figure 9.6 Schematic of the CNO cycle in high-mass (and intermediate) stars....Figure 9.7 The structure of high-mass stars. The interior structure of a hig...Figure 9.8 The cosmic abundance of different elements. The abundance of the ...Figure 9.9 The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). TESS is a space...Figure 9.10 A Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. The white line shows an approxima...Figure 9.11 Blackbody radiation curves for an object at different temperatur...Figure 9.12 Protoplanetary discs. (a) An artist's impression of the early pr...Figure 9.13 Planets in our Solar System and other examples of key categories...Figure 9.14 The Galilean moons of Jupiter. From left to right: Io (diameter ...Figure 9.15 A conceptual illustration of the Oort cloud and Kuiper belt (abo...Figure 9.16 Comet tails produced by Comet Hale–Bopp, imaged in April 2007....Figure 9.17 Recovery of a meteorite in Antarctica by members of the United S...Figure 9.18 The Casas Grandes iron–nickel meteorite with its Widmanst...Figure 9.19 A section of a pallasite meteorite (Esquel meteorite). The image...Figure 9.20 Chondrules in a meteorite. Ordinary chondrite NWA 3189 (field of...Figure 9.21 Some planets appear to move in a retrograde motion or to do a ba...Figure 9.22 Diagram illustrating Kepler's first two laws: that the Sun is at...Figure 9.23 Two bodies orbiting their common center of mass.

10 Chapter 10Figure 10.1 Clouds of interstellar material and chemistry. Left: The Orion n...Figure 10.2 The local interstellar clouds through which our Solar System is ...Figure 10.3 The Dark Cloud B68. On the left the cloud is seen in visible lig...Figure 10.4 A protoplanetary disc. An ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submill...Figure 10.5 A carbon-rich star. IRC+10 216 (CW Leo) is a carbon-rich star sh...Figure 10.6 Shock waves from supernova explosions. Here is shown a multiwave...Figure 10.7 Interstellar gas phase reactions. Some examples of a wide variet...Figure 10.8 A typical structure of an interstellar grain showing the core of...Figure 10.9 Eley–Rideal reactions.Figure 10.10 Langmuir–Hinshelwood reactions.Figure 10.11 Hot atom reactions.Figure 10.12 Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). (a) Some examples of P...Figure 10.13 Apparatus for irradiation and simulation of astrochemical envir...Figure 10.14 An absorption spectrum for the molecular gas cloud NGC 7538 IRS...Figure 10.15 An example of the absorption lines across the spectrum (shown a...

11 Chapter 11Figure 11.1 The differentiation of Earth.Figure 11.2 The giant impact hypothesis for the formation of the Moon.Figure 11.3 Some gases produced by volcanic eruptions would have contributed...Figure 11.4 Impact basins. Giant impact basins are evident on the Moon as da...Figure 11.5 Planetary bodies in the inner Solar System preserve a record of ...Figure 11.6 Late heavy bombardment. A simple schematic graph showing the hig...Figure 11.7 Ultraviolet (UV) radiation on early Earth. A diagram showing the...Figure 11.8 Some of the major events in the first billion years of Earth his...

12 Chapter 12Figure 12.1 A schematic showing the apparatus used to carry out the Miller–U...Figure 12.2 A sample of the Murchison meteorite. This carbonaceous meteorite...Figure 12.3 The structure of α-, β-, γ-, and δ-amino acids....Figure 12.4 RNA can fold into complex structures. This computer-generated st...Figure 12.5 A ribozyme. A schematic of the structure of the hammerhead riboz...Figure 12.6 Compartmentalization of metabolism. Simple metabolisms could hav...Figure 12.7 A black smoker hydrothermal vent at the Brothers volcano, Kermad...Figure 12.8 Geothermal origins of life on land? (a) Land-based geothermal (v...Figure 12.9 The modern-day Pingualuit crater in northern Quebec, Canada, con...Figure 12.10 A concept for the formation of complex organic molecules in bub...

13 Chapter 13Figure 13.1 Volcanic hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. These pools a...Figure 13.2 Isotopic fractionation illustrated with the two stable carbon is...Figure 13.3 Isotopic fractionation. An enrichment in the heavier isotope of ...Figure 13.4 A range of carbon isotope fractionation values for non-biologica...Figure 13.5 Carbon fractionation through time. Ranges of carbon isotope frac...Figure 13.6 Some of the first suggested early Earth microfossils from the Ap...Figure 13.7 A variety of abiotic precipitates produced by chemical reactions...Figure 13.8 Present-day stromatolites growing in Shark Bay, Australia. Each ...Figure 13.9 Putative early stromatolites (seen here as wavy rock textures) f...Figure 13.10 Some biomarkers are distinctive for particular taxa. These ladd...Figure 13.11 The principle of mass spectrometry (described in the text).Figure 13.12 A nano-SIMS machine. The vertical structure on the left...

14 Chapter 14Figure 14.1 (a) Basalt, an example of a rock containing minerals. (b) Obsidi...Figure 14.2 The Diamond Synchrotron Source in Oxford (UK). The synchrotron g...Figure 14.3 An example classification of different types of igneous rocks ac...Figure 14.4 The names of different types of metamorphic rocks showing the pr...Figure 14.5 The rock cycle showing the different pathways of rock types and ...Figure 14.6 The internal structure of Earth.Figure 14.7 The composition of the crust of Earth compared to the whole Eart...Figure 14.8 The lack of plate tectonics on Mars has caused the formation of ...Figure 14.9 A map showing plates and major plate boundaries on Earth.Figure 14.10 Interactions between plates and the different types of plate bo...Figure 14.11 The Hawaiian island chain. An example of a hotspot creating vol...Figure 14.12 A graphical illustration of the decay of a radioisotope over ti...Figure 14.13 (a) An isochron for a lunar rock. This sample is a dunite, an i...Figure 14.14 Diagram illustrating some principles of relative age dating of ...Figure 14.15 Different types of unconformity used in the relative dating of ...Figure 14.16 An unconformity on Mars (Mount Sharp, Gale Crater) is shown by ...Figure 14.17 The hierarchies of geological time.Figure 14.18 The enigmatic creatures and body plans of the Ediacaran.Figure 14.19 An example Cambrian fossil (Ottoia prolifica), a type of marine...Figure 14.20 Trilobites. Ubiquitous marine denizens of the Cambrian. Here is...Figure 14.21 The invasion of land. By the Carboniferous, plants, insects, an...Figure 14.22 Artists' impressions of some of the reptiles and a mammal of th...Figure 14.23 An image depicting some of the forms of mammals of the Miocene ...Figure 14.24 Cenozoic biology. A tool-building ape emerges capable of calcul...

15 Chapter 15Figure 15.1 Schematic showing the history of terrestrial atmospheric oxygen ...Figure 15.2 Minerals whose formation is favored in low oxygen concentrations...Figure 15.3 A BIF showing the layers of chert (gray/black) interspersed with...Figure 15.4 Mass-independent fractionation of sulfur over time, showing the ...Figure 15.5 Cyanobacteria, the organisms responsible for the large-scale inc...Figure 15.6 Volcanoes are one source of reduced compounds (in gases) that wo...Figure 15.7 Snowball Earth. Left: An artist's impression of a Snowball Earth...Figure 15.8 Cap carbonates have been suggested as evidence for high concentr...Figure 15.9 Cryoconite holes on the Juneau Icefield, Alaska, just one type o...Figure 15.10 Oxygen free radicals and their biological damage: a schematic s...Figure 15.11 A model of Anomalocaris, an early Cambrian predator that provid...Figure 15.12 High concentrations of oxygen linked to insect gigantism? Giant...