Formation and evolution of the Solar System depletion period that brought the asteroid belt down close to its present mass is thought to have followed when Jupiter and Saturn entered a temporary 2:1 orbital resonance (see below). The inner Solar System's period of giant impacts probably played a role in the Earth acquiring its current water content (~6 kg) from the early asteroid belt. Water is too volatile to have been present at Earth's formation and must have been subsequently delivered from outer, colder parts of the Solar System. The water was probably delivered by planetary embryos and small planetesimals thrown out of the asteroid belt by
The 50 Most Extreme Places in Our Solar System Press Book for Public and Secondary School Libraries by the Association of American University Presses. The 50 Most Extreme Places in Our Solar System The 50 Most Extreme Places in Our Solar System is the title of a science book by David Baker, professor of physics at Austin College and Todd Ratcliff, a planetary geophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The book is divided into nine sections with a few chapters in each section. The divisions are roughly phenomenological. The book is currently available in two translations with a third in progress. Reviews have been positive including being awarded Honorable