The New Worlds: Extrasolar Planets (Springer Praxis Books) - Softcover

Casoli, Fabienne; Encrenaz, Thérèse

Softcover

ISBN 10: 038744906X ISBN 13: 9780387449067

Publisher: Springer, 2007

Synopsis

Offering an engaging story of the hunt for new worlds, this book examines the range of extrasolar planets that have been discovered during the past decade and looks at what can be learned about such planets by studying the bodies in our own solar system.

About this title

Review

From the reviews:

"The story ... told in this translation of a French book in vivid language and with plenty of colour illustrations, with careful, explanations of terms to make the account accessible to non-specialists. ... this book is a great introduction to the exciting topic of planetary systems beyond our own." (Fred Taylor, BBC Sky at Night, August, 2007)

"New Worlds discusses theories of planetary system formation – what our own solar system tells us, and how that has been changed by the new systems being found today. ... New Worlds asks questions about life in the universe – how we define it, how to search for it, and where we might find it in other star systems. ... The book is recommended for astronomy and general science collections." (David White, ACADEMIA, December, 2007)

Synopsis

The detection and exploration of extrasolar planets is one of the most exciting and fast moving areas of astronomical research at the present time. With over forty research programmes ongoing, and just as many planned, the search for these new worlds has become the main objective for a new generation of giant ground-based telescopes as well as many future space missions. Experimental methods and observational techniques are pushing existing instruments to their limits. The most exciting possibility offered by this research is the discovery of Earth-like extrasolar planets, with a mass comparable to that of Earth, located at the right distance from its star to host liquid water - in other words, a place where life could evolve. The authors tackle this challenging field of research by first looking at early searches for extrasolar planets, the very first discoveries and the observational techniques involved. They, then examine the very wide range of extrasolar planets that have been discovered during the past ten years and look at what we can learn about such planets by studying the bodies in our own solar system.

The formation of planetary systems, the way in which such systems may evolve and the final systems of planets that result are then discussed. Finally, Drs Casoli and Encrenaz examine the possibilities for life on extrasolar planets, again using our own solar system as a model, and look to the plans for future extrasolar planet searches. A number of Appendices summarise the extrasolar planet discoveries to date.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 038744906X
• ISBN 13: 9780387449067
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200