Table of Contents

Chapter 1 1. Discovery of the Asteroids Chapter 2 2. Vermin of the Skies Chapter 3 3. The Modern Era Chapter 4 4. Apollos, Amors, Atens, and Close Calls: The Near-Earth Asteroids Chapter 5 5. Far Frontiers: From the Trojans to the Kuiper Belt Chapter 6 6. Asteroid Space Missions Chapter 7 7. The Name's the Thing! Chapter 8 8. 3043 San Diego: The Unwanted Honor Chapter 9 9. Impact Chapter 10 10. Shoemaker-Levy 9 Chapter 11 11. Planetary Defense Chapter 12 12. The Third Century of Asteroid Studies

About the Author

Curtis Peebles has published ten books and more than forty articles. He is the author of Watch the Skies: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth (1994) and coauthor of Flying Without Wings (1999), both published by the Smithsonian Institution Press.

Reviews

"Asteroids: A History includes an astonishing number of facts about the discovery, the naming and fate of the stepchildren of the solar system.... Peebles provides an informative discussion of the pivotal role played by technology in the discovery of smaller and smaller members of this chaotic family." Astronomy "Peebles puts the latest developments in asteroid science in their proper place in a history that dates back to Kepler's inspired guess at locating the asteroid belt.... In recounting controversies sparked by asteroid research, Peebles transports readers far beyond Jupiter and then back again to a huge crater in Arizona.... Peopling his real-life chronicle with unpredictable personalities and punctuating it with feats of intellectual wizardry, Peebles leaves mere science fiction behind." Booklist