New Worlds in the Cosmos: The Discovery of Exoplanets [Hardcover]

+++++

This book, by distinguished astronomer Dr. Michel Mayor and science journalist Pierre-Yves Frei is about extrasolar planets or simply exoplanets that are planets located outside our solar system. Mayor was the co-discoverer in 1995 of the first exoplanet (named 51 Pegasus b or HD 217014 b).

This is the book to get if you want to understand everything about exoplanets. Considering the subject matter, I found this book surprisingly easy to read. (That is, you don't have to be a science geek to read and understand it.)

There are ten chapters. Below I will give the titles and state briefly what I consider are some of the main topics of each chapter. I will give a sample sentence in quotation marks from a few of these chapters.

(1) THE QUEST BEGINS.
Stars in general, planets in general, more on 51 Pegasus b (or 51 Peg b).
"Other worlds exist, there are thousands of them, an infinity of other worlds, just as [those of the past] had imagined."
(2) INFINITY AND BEYOND.
Aristotle and the finite universe; Epicurus and the infinite universe; Ptolemy; the worlds beyond the solar system of Giordano Bruno; Tycho Brahe, Kepler; Galileo; Newton; sky measurements; galaxies.
"There was a time when no one would have bet on the existence of a planet further than [the sixth planet] Saturn. But in less than two hundred years, three new celestial objects were added to [our] solar system. Planet chasing is an ancient art."
(3) NEW ARRIVALS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
The discoveries of the seventh, eighth, and ninth planets of our solar system with a mention of the hypothesized planets Vulcan and Planet X.
(4) WHY STARS WOBBLE.
Proper Motion, sun oscillation, rumors of exoplanets, classical astrometry. (Astrometry is a method for detecting exoplanets.)
(5) NEUTRON PLANETS.
Pulsars (that is, pulsating stars or rapidly rotating neutron stars), lives of stars, rumors about planets (pulsar planets), the PSR 1257+12 exoplanetary system.
(6) BROWN DWARFS IN THE HEADLINES
An examination of hypothetical brown dwarfs that are essentially failed stars. The least massive brown dwarfs should have the same mass as the exoplanets discovered so far. Are exoplanets being confused with small brown dwarfs?
(7) SIRENS IN THE COSMOS.
The era of spectrography (or spectroscopy which is the study of spectra), the first exoplanetary searches, the radial velocity method (another method for detecting exoplanets).
(8) FOREIGN PLANETS DIFFERENT TO OUR HOMEGROWN ONES
Planet formation, the very eccentric orbits of exoplanets, exoplanetary systems with multiple planets, metallic stars.
(9) DESTINATION: EARTHS!
First visible exoplanet, the transit method (another method for detecting exoplanets), microlensing (yet another method for detecting exoplanets), interferometry (a technique for creating very big telescopes), taking a photo of another earth.
(10) FURTHER YET: LIFE
What is life, emergence of life on earth, life in the solar system, habitable planets, SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence).
"Will we find extraterrestrial life? Has another planet in the Universe succeeded in assembling the extraordinary...conditions that life seems to require in order to appear? This is the ultimate question that lies behind the quest for exoplanets."

There is also an appendix called "Properties of the exoplanets." Here you'll find the names of just over 100 exoplanets discovered up to October 2002. The properties given for each is mass (in our planet's Jupiter masses), orbital period (in Earth days), and eccentricity. (Orbital period is the time in Earth days the planet takes to complete an orbit. Eccentricity describes the shapes of elliptical orbits where the closer this value is to 1.0, the longer and thinner the orbit.)

This appendix is fascinating. However, I couldn't understand why the authors did not give the properties (named above) for planet Earth so as to be used for comparison. Sure most people know that the Earth's period is about 365 days. But how many people know what its mass is in Jupiter masses or what its eccentricity is? (The Earth's orbit is almost a circle so its eccentricity is very low: about 0.016. The Earth's mass in Jupiter masses is about 0.003.)

Another valuable feature of this book is that it has a good, brief glossary. I found this invaluable for clarifying key terms.

A feature of this book's bibliography is that it has the names of 10 interesting internet sites.

This gem of a book has more than 25 very informative illustrations throughout. As well, there is a set of color plates in the form of 15 photographs found near the middle of the book.

Finally, the only problem I had with this book is that there is no index. I couldn't understand this since the rest of the book is so well laid out. (Even the illustrations are indexed in the table of contents.) As you can see from my summary of the 10 chapters, this book offers a wealth of information. Thus I thought the lack of an index was a major oversight.

In conclusion, this is a unique book that explains a new and interesting science: the quest for exoplanets. If you want to find out more about exoplanets, then this is the definitive book to read!!

(first published 2003; list of figures; preface; acknowledgements; 10 chapters; main narrative 235 pages; appendix; glossary; bibliography)

+++++

Anyone that knows me knows that I love Astronomy. Lately I have been very interested in "Exoplanets," which are planets found outside of our solar system. These planets revolve around other stars and could be the home to alien life. It is a fascinating science and an important project that touches on the most basic of human questions "Are we alone?" Although this book is mostly on the observing, research and history of the search for these far off planets and leaves the alien question to the end of the book. I found it an interesting and informative tale; full of excitement and failure, hope and determination. If you want to know what is out there... this book is one of the places to begin your journey.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars