Meteorites are ancient rocks dating from the beginnings of the solar system, 4.5 billion years ago. When heated in the dark, or bombarded by a cathode ray beam, they glow and precise measurement of the light produced enables new insights into their long and enigmatic history.
Derek Sears, now at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, and previously of the University of Arkansas, USA, Kiyotaka Ninagawa of the Okayama University of Science, Japan, and Ashok Singhvi of the Physical Research Laboratory, India, have between them almost 100 years of experience studying the light emitted from extraterrestrial samples, rocks from the Moon as well as meteorites. In this book these three researchers describe what has been learned from these glimmerings from the past.