Best solar system books according to redditors

As several people have pointed out, the question is not "what is Jupiter's structure" or "When did scientists realize that Jupiter had an atmosphere", it's "when did scientists realize it had no solid ground?". It's about the history of knowledge of the interior composition. Since, recent spacecraft results suggest it may gradually transition into something like a small solid core, let's interpret the question as, "When did we first realize that Jupiter wasn't a rocky planet"?

To solve this problem, you need to calculate the mass of Jupiter and its size, so you can find its density. The mass of Jupiter can be calculated using Newtonian orbital mechanics, provided you know the orbital period and orbital diameter of its moons. Period is easy, but a major historical problem in solar system studies was finding the relative scale of everything: it's easy to measure angles and relative sizes with a telescope, but we need the actual length dimensions. You need a baseline distance to start with, such as the distance from the Earth to the Sun: this was worked out in the late 1600s: from that, the size of Jupiter, the size of its moons' orbits, and thus its mass and density could be found.

So even before 1700, astronomers realized that Jupiter was 300 times the mass of Earth, but with a density much less than that of rock. Since the density known today is about 1.4 times that of water, I suppose that without knowledge of high-pressure physics they couldn't rule out a liquid water or ice planet, but scientists have known for over 300 years that Jupiter is definitely not a rocky world. H. G. Wells was a fantastic writer, but he maybe wasn't so meticulous about doing his library research.

The story is laid out by Reta Beebe in Jupiter: The Giant Planet (1997).

Glad I could answer your question. To answer your next one, just because Miller's hypothesis was later proven to be 'improbable', it still forms the foundation for solid experimentation. It was a milestone Miller happened upon, partially due to luck. The kid was a student when he did this. He had a pretty awesome advisor since Urey didn't take sole ownership of the study.

There are many other fields of study that compliments the basic principles of Miller's but are 'tweaked'. One in particular is 'hydrothermal environments'. Essentially, deep-underwater hydrothermal vent systems are known today to have the ability to produce amino acid oligomers (1 AA + 1 AA -> dipeptide). These vent systems are believed to have existed on a primitive earth. For this type of condensation mechanism to occur (where two amino acids form a dipeptide), a lot of energy is required. Why? A condensation reaction is the following, A1+A2 -> B1 + H2O (where A1 and A2 are amino acids and B is the dipeptide). Notice how a water is in the products of reaction. If you have two amino acids in the ocean (a ton of waters) and you want to combine these amino acids, a water is produced in an environment where water concentration >> amino acid concentration (so, it is unlikely a water will 'form' in this environment because water is in great excess). Hydrothermal environments are perfect because they are high energy environments consisting of high temperatures (180-300C) and pressures. This type of condensation reaction has been repeatedly achieved in experimental labs (see E. Imai in Google Scholar for starters). The one problem people have with this is, amino acid chains (oligomers) decompose to their basic amino acid units at temperatures this high. I have personally faced opposition at conferences when promoting this idea from organic chemists who claim there is no possible way it could work because of the temperatures involved. So we're stuck between a rock and a hard place right? Wrong.

Here's the workaround. Hydrothermal environments constantly circulate water deep under the ocean. At that elevation, water is very very cold. The water seeps into the ground and enters hydrothermal channels where it is rapidly heated. After an amount of time, the water is expelled back into the cold waters of the ocean (the water is quenched). This quenching process gives amino acid oligomers the stability it needs to remain in complex chains. The process is pretty rapid so the oligomer retention time needs to be short. One of my favorite books (which is actually sitting right here on my shelf) has a lot of information on this. Its expensive so I suggest you borrow it from a university library if you're interested. Dr. Everett Shock (I believe it works out in Arizona or something?) is my idol when it comes to this school of thought.

Preemptive "I may edit this post" since it was a stream of conscious.

Do Collin's book first, you'll be glad you did!

Also 'To A Rocky Moon' for the lunar geology aspect of things, this one really got me involved in 'why they went there.'

http://www.amazon.com/To-Rocky-Moon-Geologists-Exploration/dp/0816514437

Please excuse the length, I love making lists.

Video Production

Green Screen

Bounce

Tripod

Books

Dining with Dr Who

Writing movies for fun and profit This is a great book. I have it, absolutely hysterical.

Writing

Ink quill

TARDIS Deluxe Journal

Travel

Street Signs

Flags

Eiffel Tower Chocolate Mold

Little Window Beach

17th century world map

Watercolor World Map

Universal world wide adapter plug

Hidden pocket wallet



Science!

Liquid Gold Plating Kit

Molecular Gastronomy Kit

This one also works for gardening:
Moons and Blooms lunar calender

Inflatable earth with glow in the dark cities

Galilea Moon Phase Calendar and Clock

Glow in the dark lunar calender!

Art

Sunprint Kit

Scrapper tool set

Fantasy!

LOTR inspired necklace

Another LOTR inspired necklace

Dragon necklace

Dragon JEwerly box

These/this are/is a book, but Mercedes Lackey is a FANTASTIC fantasy writer. I'd start with the Mage Winds trilogy or Mage Wars series.

Outdoors

Portal-able Speakers If you want to listen to relaxing music (or just music) while reading or chilling outside, this is the perfect speaker. It goes pretty loud, my bro has one, I steal if to make my showers musical.

Solar power LED Water proof color changing globes

Ball lanterns!


Math

Math clock

Mental Math

Pi ice cube shape tray

Mini Abacus pendant keychain

And it was delicious

Math jokes

Math/science ice cube tray


Rubik's Cube office thingy

Abacus-they have these in all colors and shapes and what have you.

Spirituality

Wasn't quite sure what you're looking for, but these things are pretty relaxing and some of them are used in meditation or for relaxation/de-stress so I figured I could put 'em here.

[LED mini waterfall)(http://www.amazon.com/Mirrored-Waterfall-Light-Show-Fountain/dp/B008Q3GH1O/ref=pd_sim_hpc_17)

Zen reflection bonzai tree with a little pond

Candle and water fountain

Five tier illuminated fountain

Other random fun things!

DR Who Projector clock

Sherlock season one Dunno but I feel you might like this show.

Giant Nail polish set


Nail art brushes

LED faucet water glow thing

Alright! I think I'll stop there before this becomes a novel xD