This comprehensive collection is intended for use as a reference by researchers. The 40 articles give a meteoritics overview including descriptions of the types of extraterrestrial material available for study, meteoritic constraints on astronomical processes in the presolar epoch, including the origin of carbonaceous presolar grains in stellar environments, the astrophysical setting and initial conditions of the solar nebula in the disk formation epoch, including the physics and chemistry of nebular evolution, the genesis of solar system materials in the first nebular epoch and materials as they processed in the second, formation of planetesimals in the accretion epoch, including chronological constraints on planetesimal accretion, alteration and metamorphism as well as melting and differentiation in the parent-body epoch, and the relationships of meteorites and earth in the planetary epoch. Over 200 line illustrations and 72 halftones accompany the text. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)