Autobiography of Earth: Prologue
Before The Hadean Eon
EPISODE SUMMARY:
SEGMENT 1: For 9.2 billion years, the cosmos went about its business without Earth...the only world you've ever known. What is Earth and how did it get here? We discuss the origin of "stuff". Which stuff? All stuff. According to the current cosmological model, all stuff came into existence 13.8 billion years ago in a flash, resulting in the basic building blocks of matter and the fundamental forces that govern their interactions.
SEGMENT 2: The formation of our solar system comes into focus, and with it, the formation of Earth. How do scientists use observations of protoplanetary disks in the Milky Way galaxy to piece together the events that occurred to bring about the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the Kuiper belt? We're joined by astrophysicist Mari-Liis Aru from the European Southern Observatory to shed light on processes that occurred 4.6 billion years ago.
SEGMENT 3: Life on Earth. Did Earth manufacture the basic building blocks for life or was it delivered to Earth during its formation? It turns out, prebiotic molecules exist within interstellar dust, waiting for a habitable location to take root. Does this mean life itself is ubiquitous? We welcome astrochemist Eric T. Parker from the NASA Goddard Space Center to get his insights.
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE OR DOUBLE-CLICK TO FULL SCREEN:
Resources
NASA: Eyes on Exoplanets
How Rare Elements Are Made
Problems With The Big Bang Theory