by Michael Summers (Author), James Trefil (Author)

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The past few years have seen an incredible explosion in our knowledge of the universe. Since its 2009 launch, the Kepler satellite has discovered more than two thousand exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system.

More exoplanets are being discovered all the time, and even more remarkable than the sheer number of exoplanets is their variety.

In Exoplanets, astronomer Michael Summers and physicist James Trefil explore these remarkable recent discoveries: planets revolving around pulsars, planets made of diamond, planets that are mostly water, and numerous rogue planets wandering through the emptiness of space.

This captivating book reveals the latest discoveries and argues that the incredible richness and complexity we are finding necessitates a change in our questions and mental paradigms.

In short, we have to change how we think about the universe and our place in it, because it is stranger and more interesting than we could have imagined.

Review

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The existence of planets outside Earth’s solar system was long assumed, and recent technologies, including improved telescopes and research satellites, have not only confirmed their existence but revealed all kinds of surprises. The first verified exoplanet, for instance, was orbiting “the wrong kind of star,” a pulsar, or what was left after a supernova that was supposed to blast to smithereens anything even close to resembling a planet. Meanwhile, the statuses of solar system objects besides the recognized planets were changing as water, indispensable for Earth-like life, was detected as superficial ice and subsurface oceans on some moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune as well as on big bodies in the Kuiper Belt, such as the demoted planet Pluto, which thereby regained its title. Astonishment continued as huge, rocky “Super Earths,” inexplicably light planets, pure-carbon diamond planets, planets circling more than one star, starhugging hot planets, and rogue planets unconnected to stars were detected. These revelations, how they were made, imaginative voyages to five un-Earthly types of planet, and their implications for life and intelligence elsewhere than on Earth are concisely illuminated by astrophysicists Summers and Trefil in this marvelously fascinating and wonderfully accessible illustrated book. — Ray Olson

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Categories : Cosmology, Astronomy, Astrophysics & Space Science
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01HA426MS
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Smithsonian Books (March 14, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 14, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File‏ : ‎ EPUB, 78.39 MB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Print length ‏ : ‎ 206 pages