Five Billion Years of Solitude (45 page)

Kepler’s study of,
82
,
83

missions to,
187
,
188
,
196
,
207
,
221

water on,
28
,
179

Marshall, James,
105
–6,
112

Martian Chronicles, The
(Bradbury),
98
–99

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
251
–52,
259

ExoplanetSat project,
256
–57

“Next 40 Years of Exoplanets” conference at,
225
–35,
263

Mayor, Michel,
58

McPhee, John,
145

mEarth Project,
228
–29

mediocrity, principle of (Copernican Principle),
83
,
89
,
91

Mercury,
82
,
109
,
239

meteorites,
20

methane,
140
,
142
,
168
–71,
174
,
200

methanogens,
140
,
142
,
169

microbes,
28

Miletus,
77

Milky Way,
16
–17,
25
,
31
,
39
,
41
,
79
,
86
–87,
191
,
237
,
238

Sun’s orbit in,
95

Miller, George P.,
101

Miller, Stanley,
19

Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science,
48
,
74

mitochondria,
143

Moon,
3
,
76
,
100
,
229
,
242

in early cosmology,
78
,
83

formation of,
30
,
139

Moon, missions to,
188
,
196
,
221
,
224

Apollo,
1
,
50
,
151
,
187
,
202
,
212
,
239

Morrison, Philip,
15
,
18
–19,
21
,
23
–24

Mosely, T. Michael,
258

Mountain, Matt,
199
–210,
225
,
234
–35

Mount John University Observatory,
96

Mullen, George,
174

multiverse,
90
–91

Murphy, Tom,
103
,
104

Nagasaki,
23

nanosatellites,
256
–57

NASA,
41
–42,
166
,
196
,
200
,
206
–7,
221
–25,
232
,
235

funding and budget for,
188
,
189
,
192
,
195
–98,
215
,
219
,
223

Grunsfeld as associate administrator at,
198
–99

Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
211
–12,
216
,
219
,
221
–25,
231

Kasting and,
151
–53,
156
,
165
–67

SETI and,
11
–12

see also
space missions

National Academy of Sciences,
165

National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO),
10

SETI conference at,
15
–25,
27
–28,
101
,
167
–68,
240

National Reconnaissance Office (NRO),
205
,
206

National Science Foundation (NSF),
41
–42,
96
,
165

natural capital,
74

natural gas,
125
–27,
137
,
184

natural selection,
21

Nature,
74
–75,
167
,
181

“Negative Feedback Mechanism for the Long-Term Stabilization of Earth’s Temperature” (Walker, Hays, and Kasting),
177
–79

Neptune,
110

Neptune-like planets,
56
,
108
–9,
251

New Horizons,
239

Newton, Isaac,
83

New York Times,
52
,
155

Nexterra Foundation,
257

“Next 40 Years of Exoplanets” conference,
225
–35,
263

Nixon, Richard,
188

nuclear weapons,
23
–24

Obama, Barack,
196
,
231
–32

observatories,
96

Arecibo,
39
–42

European Southern (ESO),
60
,
64
,
66

Keck,
59
,
60
,
62
,
66
,
118

Lick,
58
,
61
,
62
,
70
,
113
–19

National Radio Astronomy,
see
National Radio Astronomy Observatory

see also
telescopes

oil,
125
–26,
137
,
160
,
184

Oliver, Bernard,
15

On the Nature of Things
(
De Rerum Natura
) (Lucretius),
80
–81

On the Revolutions of Heavenly Orbs
(
De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium
) (Copernicus),
82

OpTIIX,
207
–8,
210

orchids,
37
–38

Orion Nebula,
97

oxygen,
139
–44,
159
,
168
,
168
–72,
174
,
177
,
180
–83,
200
,
238

ozone layer,
134
–35,
142
,
159
,
176

Page, Larry,
258

parallax,
80
,
86

Pearman, J. P. T.,
15

Pennsylvania,
124
,
128
,
131
,
133
,
138
,
143
,
144

coal mining in,
125

Marcellus formation in,
126
–30,
137
,
138
,
141
,
144
,
160

Pennsylvania State University,
127
,
149
,
153

Permian Period,
132

petroleum,
125
–26,
137
,
160
,
184

Phanerozoic Eon,
138
,
144

Phobos,
100