This book contains the proceedings from a workshop on planetary sciences sponsored by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the National Academy of Sciences. The proceedings include papers written by American and Soviet scientists who examine the current theoretical understanding of how the planets were formed and how they evolved to their present state. They assess the type of observations and experiments that are needed to advance understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system based on the current theoretical framework.

Table of Contents


Front Matter
1. The Properties and Environment of Primitive Solar Nebulae as Deduced from Observations of Solar-Type Pre-Main Sequence Stars
2. Numerical Two-Dimensional Calculations of the Formation of the Solar Nebula
3. Three-Dimensional Evolution of Early Solar Nebula
4. Formation and Evolution of the Protoplanetary Disk
5. Physical-Chemical Processes in a Protoplanetary Cloud
6. Magnetohydrodynamic Puzzles in the Protoplanetary Nebula
7. Formation of Planetesimals
8. Formation of the Terrestrial Planets from Planetesimals
9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies
10. Astrophysical Dust Grains in Stars, the Interstellar Medium, and the Solar System
11. Late Stages of Accumulation and Early Evolution of the Planets
12. Giant Planets and Their Satellites: What are the Relationships Between Their Properties and How They Formed?
13. The Thermal Conditions of Venus
14. Degassing
15. The Role of Impacting Processes in the Chemical Evolution of the Atmosphere of Primordial Earth
16. Lithospheric and Atmospheric Interaction on the Planet Venus
17. Runaway Greenhouse Atmospheres: Applications to Earth and Venus
18. The Oort Cloud
19. The Chaotic Dynamics of Comets and the Problems of the Oort Cloud
20. Progress in Extra-Solar Planet Detection
Appendix I: List of Participants
Appendix II: List of Presentations