Delivered as lectures at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, these chapters explain the Nebular Theory of how the sun and planets formed. Ball moves from the problem stated to the primeval fire-mist, real and apparent nebulae, the heat of the sun and how it is maintained, spiral nebulae photographed at the Lick Observatory, and the evidence of volcanoes such as Krakatoa.
Lucid popular astronomy from the author of The Story of the Heavens, a window on science around 1900. Download the free EPUB.