How Do Scientists Explore Earlier Times??

Question

How do scientists explore earlier times or places that they can't visit and observe directly?

Like the jurassic period and when the solar system was created??

Answer 1

Well they look at fossils, different layers of sediment have fossils from different periods like Jurassic Period, e.t.c

They have a list of fossils that they can use to tell the time when the sediment was laid down.

Astronomers observe something called the Cosmic Microwave Background, which tells us about the temperature of the Universe a long time ago in the Past

Study of the composition of meteorites also tells us about the formation of the solar system. Use the Wiki links for in depth articles

Answer 2

It's like on CSI.They use the evidence left behind from that time that can be observed today (like a bloody knife lying by a dead body). They then come up with different hypotheses about what events could have taken place that would leave behind that evidence (I'll bet he was stabbed to death). Generally, such hypotheses lead to predicitions about what other sorts of evidence can be found to corroborate the hypothesis (I predict we'll discover that the body has at least one stab wound). If the predictions are successful (See, there, right in the back), the hypothesis graduates into a theory.