LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IN TEXT

BP before the present
cf. compare
E evolutionary (model)
EM electromagnetic
f.(ff.) following page(s)
fn. footnote
Gm, Gy gigameter, gigayear (= aeon)
ibid. in the same place
ISEE International Sun Earth Explorer (a space craft)
K Kelvin
km/s kilometers per second
ly light year
mks meter-kilogram second (units)
My megayear or million years
NMP, NRP North magnetic (rotational) pole
o. Omnindex (used in the printed version of this book. This electronic version has the same information presented as Glossary, and Bibiliography)
op. cit. in the work cited
Q quantavolutionary (model)
q.v. refer to
SB Solaria Binaria (model)
SMP, SRP South magnetic (rotational) pole

GUIDE TO METRIC UNITS

Distances are measured in meters

Multiples of the meter, by thousands and thousands, have special names designated by a prefix, such as micrometer and gigameter.

Other metric units use the same prefixes for their multiples, like microvolts, gigaergs, etc.

Prefix Decimal Notation Useful to Measure
nano 0.000 000 001 atoms
micro 0.000 001 cells
milli 0.001 type size
- 1.0 people
kilo 1000.0 driving distances
mega 1000 000.0 satellite diameters
giga 1000 000 000.0 star diameters
tera 1000 000 000 000.0 planet orbits