Magnetospheric Research and the History of the Solar System

摘要

The use of in situ magnetospheric results in cosmology is discussed. Extrapolation of magnetospheric results makes it necessary to revise the evolutionary history of interstellar dust clouds and the formation of stars, including the Sun and the solar nebula, out of which our planetary system derived. The formation of planets and satellites can also be appraoched by an extrapolation backwards in time of magnetospheric results. A combination of these two methods makes it possible to reconstruct events 4 to 5 billion years ago with an accuracy of a few percent. This reconstruction is based on the Pioneer and Voyager measurements of the highly structurized Saturnian rings. These can be regarded as a time capsule which registered decisive processes leading to the formation of our solar system.