Weird Astronomical Theories of the Solar System and Beyond

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Is There a Cosmic Web of Life?

   • David Seargent

   Pages 1-54

3. The Birth of the Solar System: Some Unconventional Ideas

   • David Seargent

   Pages 55-98

4. Focused Starlight, Cosmic Impacts and Life on Earth

   • David Seargent

   Pages 99-131

5. Comet Controversies

   • David Seargent

   Pages 133-201

6. Weird Theories of a Weird Universe

   • David Seargent

   Pages 203-256

7. Back Matter

   Pages 257-270

   PDF

After addressing strange cosmological hypotheses in Weird Universe, David Seargent tackles the no-less bizarre theories closer to home. Alternate views on the Solar System's formation, comet composition, and the evolution of life on Earth are only some of the topics he addresses in this new work. Although these ideas exist on the fringe of mainstream astronomy, they can still shed light on the origins of life and the evolution of the planets. Continuing the author's series of books popularizing strange astronomy facts and knowledge, Weird Astronomical Theories presents an approachable exploration of the still mysterious questions about the origin of comets, the pattern of mass extinctions on Earth, and more. The alternative theories discussed here do not come from untrained amateurs. The scientists whose work is covered includes the mid-20th century Russian S. K. Vsekhsvyatskii, cosmologist Max Tegmark, British astronomers Victor Clube and William Napier, and American Tom Van Flandern, a specialist in celestial mechanics who held a variety of unusual beliefs about the possibility of intelligent life having come from elsewhere. Despite being outliers, their work reveals how much astronomical understanding is still evolving. Unconventional approaches have also pushed our scientific understanding for the better, as with R.W. Mandl's approaching Einstein with regard to gravitational lensing.  Even without full substantiation (and some theories are hardly credible), their hypotheses allow for a new perspective on how the Solar System became what it is today.

• Clube and Napier catastrophist hypothesis
• Comets as electrical phenomena
• Max Tegmark theory of math as universe structure
• R Lyttleton and H Bondi electrical theory of cosmic redshift
• R. Mandl “natural ray-gun” theory
• S. K. Vsekhsvyatskii’s comet theory
• Van Flandern’s solar system plasma theory

“In his latest book, David Seargent (the Australian comet expert) dives into a host of strange and weird theoretical proposals associated with our Solar System. … This is an extremely enjoyable and thought-provoking book.” (David W. Hughes, The Observatory, Vol. 136 (1255), December, 2016)

• The Entrance, Australia

  David Seargent

David A. J. Seargent holds an MA and Ph.D., both in Philosophy from the University of Newcastle NSW, where he formerly worked as a tutor in Philosophy for the Department of Community of Programs/Worker’s Educational Association external education program. As an amateur astronomer, he is known for his observations of comets, one of which he discovered in 1978. He is the author of five astronomy books: “Comets – Vagabonds in Space” (Doubleday, 1982), “The Greatest Comets in History” (Springer, 2008), “Weird Astronomy” (Springer, 2010),“Weird Weather” (Springer, 2012),  "Weird Worlds" (2013), and most recently "Weird Universe" (2015). He is the author of a regular column in “Australian Sky and Telescope” magazine.

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