Exoplanets

Exoplanets
Author: Michael E. Summers
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2017-03-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1588345955

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.

The Life of Super-Earths

The Life of Super-Earths
Author: Dimitar Sasselov
Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2012-01-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 046502193X

An astronomy professor at Harvard University discusses the possibilities of finding other worlds that sustain alien life forms, citing recent breakthroughs in biology and exoplanetary astronomy, including the recent discovery of arsenic-based bacteria in a California lake.

Strange New Worlds

Strange New Worlds
Author: Ray Jayawardhana
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2013-04-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 069115807X

Describes the science of planet hunters, the prospects for the discovery of alien life, and discusses the controversies surrounding extrasolar-planet research.

Super Earth Encyclopedia

Super Earth Encyclopedia
Author: DK
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2017-07-04
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0744057124

This visual encyclopedia is the ultimate page-turner, bringing our planet's most diverse and dramatic features together in spectacular style. Go on a breathtaking journey around the world. Scale the highest mountains, explore incredible weather patterns, and come face-to-face with the deadly forces of nature. Kids can explore the incredible, ever-changing features of Earth through mind-blowing photography, brand-new CGI artwork, fun facts, and stats. This fascinating reference book is sure to inspire the ecologists and scientists of tomorrow. Curious kids want to know everything about their planet. How do tornadoes form? What does the center of a volcanic eruption look like? Where is the hottest inhabited place on Earth? Investigate our world from its core to its cosmic connections when you journey through the spectacular imagery of colorful coral reefs, castle-like ice caves, and violent microbursts. This lively encyclopedia engages young readers with riveting information and eye-catching photography. Super Earth Encyclopedia will take your child on a jaw-dropping journey of discovering the most fascinating features of our planet. The Biggest, Highest, Most Extraordinary Features on Our Planet Feel the mighty power of the highest waterfall and discover superheated water from a giant geyser. This educational book for children will ensure that you never look at the world, or its wonders, in the same way again. Inside the pages of this stunning book about Earth, you’ll find: • Beautiful photography and CGI artworks of Earth’s most dramatic features. • Dashboard-style fact files that provide information at a glance. • Informative, fun-to-read text that is based on the latest discoveries and scientific research. More from DK Books: There are more Super Encyclopedias to explore! Super Bug Encyclopedia gives you an unprecedented insight into the complex life of creepy crawlies, and Super Human Encyclopedia showcases from head to toe how extraordinary the human body is.

Envisioning Exoplanets

Envisioning Exoplanets
Author: Michael Carroll
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2020-10-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1588346919

Come along for the captivating hunt for planets like our own Envisioning Exoplanets traces the journey of astronomers and researchers on their quest to explore the universe for a planet like Earth. Exoplanets--worlds beyond our solar system--were once dismissed as science fiction. But now, with more than 4,000 confirmed exoplanets, countless possibilities exist for what remains to be uncovered in the universe. This book follows the exhilarating progression of exoplanet research from its earliest stages operating on the fringes of scientific research to the newest developments of renowned agencies around the world searching for planets capable of hosting life. Featuring provocative questions about the universe and more than 200 remarkable illustrations from Michael Caroll, Ron Miller, and other key members of the International Association of Astronomical Artists, Envisioning Exoplanets is an intergalactic visual voyage.

Rare Earth

Rare Earth
Author: Peter D. Ward
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2007-05-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0387218483

What determines whether complex life will arise on a planet, or even any life at all? Questions such as these are investigated in this groundbreaking book. In doing so, the authors synthesize information from astronomy, biology, and paleontology, and apply it to what we know about the rise of life on Earth and to what could possibly happen elsewhere in the universe. Everyone who has been thrilled by the recent discoveries of extrasolar planets and the indications of life on Mars and the Jovian moon Europa will be fascinated by Rare Earth, and its implications for those who look to the heavens for companionship.

The Planet Factory

The Planet Factory
Author: Elizabeth Tasker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2017-09-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1472917758

Forget about rockets to Mars – the future of space science lies with the search for exoplanets Twenty years ago, the search for planets outside the Solar System was the preserve of science-fiction writers. Now it's one of the fastest-growing fields in astronomy, with thousands of exoplanets discovered to date, and the number rising fast. These new-found worlds are more alien than anything in fiction. Planets larger than Jupiter with years lasting a week; others with two suns lighting their skies, or with no sun at all. Planets with diamond mantles supporting oceans of tar; possible Earth-sized worlds with split hemispheres of perpetual day and night; waterworlds drowning under global oceans and volcanic lava planets awash with seas of magma. The discovery of this diversity is just the beginning. There is a whole galaxy of possibilities. The Planet Factory tells the story of these exoplanets. What can we learn about these faraway surface environments and planetary atmospheres? And do the results hint at the tantalising possibility of alien life?

Life in the Cosmos

Life in the Cosmos
Author: Manasvi Lingam
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 1089
Release: 2021-06-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0674987578

A rigorous and scientific analysis of the myriad possibilities of life beyond our planet. ÒAre we alone in the universe?Ó This tantalizing question has captivated humanity over millennia, but seldom has it been approached rigorously. Today the search for signatures of extraterrestrial life and intelligence has become a rapidly advancing scientific endeavor. Missions to Mars, Europa, and Titan seek evidence of life. Laboratory experiments have made great strides in creating synthetic life, deepening our understanding of conditions that give rise to living entities. And on the horizon are sophisticated telescopes to detect and characterize exoplanets most likely to harbor life. Life in the Cosmos offers a thorough overview of the burgeoning field of astrobiology, including the salient methods and paradigms involved in the search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence. Manasvi Lingam and Abraham Loeb tackle three areas of interest in hunting for life Òout thereÓ: first, the pathways by which life originates and evolves; second, planetary and stellar factors that affect the habitability of worlds, with an eye on the biomarkers that may reveal the presence of microbial life; and finally, the detection of technological signals that could be indicative of intelligence. Drawing on empirical data from observations and experiments, as well as the latest theoretical and computational developments, the authors make a compelling scientific case for the search for life beyond what we can currently see. Meticulous and comprehensive, Life in the Cosmos is a master class from top researchers in astrobiology, suggesting that the answer to our age-old question is closer than ever before.

Imagined Life

Imagined Life
Author: James Trefil
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2019-09-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1588346730

The captivating possibilities of extraterrestrial life on exoplanets, based on current scientific knowledge of existing worlds and forms of life 2023 Canopus Awards for Interstellar Writing Finalist It is now known that we live in a galaxy with more planets than stars. The Milky Way alone encompasses 30 trillion potential home planets. Scientists Trefil and Summers bring readers on a marvelous experimental voyage through the possibilities of life--unlike anything we have experienced so far--that could exist on planets outside our own solar system. Life could be out there in many forms: on frozen worlds, living in liquid oceans beneath ice and communicating (and even battling) with bubbles; on super-dense planets, where they would have evolved body types capable of dealing with extreme gravity; on tidally locked planets with one side turned eternally toward a star; and even on "rogue worlds," which have no star at all. Yet this is no fictional flight of fancy: the authors take what we know about exoplanets and life on our own world and use that data to hypothesize about how, where, and which sorts of life might develop. Imagined Life is a must-have for anyone wanting to learn how the realities of our universe may turn out to be far stranger than fiction.

Ultraviolet Astronomy and the Quest for the Origin of Life

Ultraviolet Astronomy and the Quest for the Origin of Life
Author: Ana I. Gomez de Castro
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2021-03-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0128191716

Ultraviolet Astronomy and the Quest for the Origin of Life addresses the use of astronomical observations in the ultraviolet range to better understand the generation of complex, life-precursor molecules. The origin of RNA is still under debate but seems to be related to the generation of pools of complex organic molecules submitted to heavy cycles of solution in water and drying. This book investigates whether these cycles require a planetary surface or may occur in space by examining both the theoretical and observational aspects of the role of UV radiation in the origin of life. This book offers the latest advances in these studies for astronomers, astrobiologists and planetary scientists. - Addresses both the theoretical and observational aspects of the role of Ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the origin of life - Builds on the requirements to produce prebiotic molecules in space and the implications for the origin of RNA - Investigates the use of ultraviolet observations related to planetary system formation, the evolution of young planetary disks, and the interaction of stars with planetary atmospheres