EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Objetivo la Tierra introduces us in the world of asteroids and establishes that they were created at the same time as the Solar System and were incapable of combining to form a planet, like the Earth did, probably due to the influence of the gravitational fields of Jupiter and the Sun. It is a theory generally accepted that the impact of a great asteroid has produced geological and climatological changes, and has been the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs millions of years ago. Is the Earth a product of this collision? This book is the result of a deep research on asteroids, where they come from, and how their collision with the Earth could affect life on our planet.

(Extracted from the back cover).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contenido.

-Agradecimientos.

-Introducción.

-1. El Nacimiento del Sistema Solar.

-2. Un Planeta Llamado Tierra.

-3. Las Semillas de la Vida Procedentes del Espacio.

-4. Colisiones del Pasado.

-5. Consecuencias de las Colisiones.

-6. La Estrella Muerta y el Planeta X.

-7. En Busca de los Cráteres.

-8. Meteoros y Cometas.

-9. Exploración y Explotación Minera de los Asteroides.

-10. Evitar Colisiones.

-Glosario.

-Bibliografía.

-Indice.

OUR REVIEW

The theme of the possible collision of a comet or asteroid against the Earth, in a probable way, periodically awakens a renewed interest both among the scientists and among the general public and the mass media. In this moment numerous books on this issue tend to appear, oriented towards "warning" the people on the possible little lifetime left to us. Jon Erickson, however, is far stricter and examines these issues from a critical and at the same time realistic prism. To do this he analyses the role of the minor bodies not only in their destructive action in the Solar System, but also in their renovative performance that in the case of the Earth perhaps allowed for the disappearance of dinosaurs and the preparation of the planet so that it could be colonized by our species.

The book, which is lavishly illustrated, makes available to us the ingredients that will permit us to widen our criteria on this issue, on the one hand by updating everything he knows in this respect, and on the other hand by examining the past and the future of the danger of the cosmic collisions. As usual, Erickson displays his excellent task in the divulgation of science, making available to anyone the mysteries of this exciting scientific issue.