The Quest For Alien Planets

The Quest For Alien Planets PDF Author: Paul Halpern
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Details the important discoveries of the first known worlds beyond the solar system; explores the search for planets similar and alien to Earth.

The Quest For Alien Planets

The Quest For Alien Planets PDF Author: Paul Halpern
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Details the important discoveries of the first known worlds beyond the solar system; explores the search for planets similar and alien to Earth.

Strange New Worlds

Strange New Worlds PDF Author: Ray Jayawardhana
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400846544
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
An insider's look at the cutting-edge science of today's planet hunters In Strange New Worlds, renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets—and alien life—beyond our solar system. Only in the past two decades, after millennia of speculation, have astronomers begun to discover planets around other stars—thousands in fact. Now they are closer than ever to unraveling distant twins of the Earth. In this book, Jayawardhana vividly recounts the stories of the scientists and the remarkable breakthroughs that have ushered in this extraordinary age of exploration. He describes the latest findings--including his own—that are challenging our view of the cosmos and casting new light on the origins and evolution of planets and planetary systems. He reveals how technology is rapidly advancing to support direct observations of Jupiter-like gas giants and super-Earths—rocky planets with several times the mass of our own planet—and how astronomers use biomarkers to seek possible life on other worlds. Strange New Worlds provides an insider's look at the cutting-edge science of today's planet hunters, our prospects for discovering alien life, and the debates and controversies at the forefront of extrasolar-planet research. In a new afterword, Jayawardhana explains some of the most recent developments as we search for the first clues of life on other planets.

Lonely Planets

Lonely Planets PDF Author: David Grinspoon
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061748617
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
PEN Literary Award Winner: “The best, most entertaining examination of the possibility of other life in the universe since [Carl] Sagan’s best work.” —Boulder Daily Camera It’s been decades since Carl Sagan first addressed the general public about the possibility of extraterrestrial life from a scientist’s perspective. We’ve learned a lot in those years, and now planetary scientist David Grinspoon investigates the big questions: How widespread are life and intelligence in the cosmos? Is life on Earth an accident, or in some sense the “purpose” of this universe? And how can we, working from the Earth-centric definition of “life,” even begin to think about the varieties of life-forms on other planets? In accessible, lively prose, and using the topic of extraterrestrial life as a mirror with which to view human beliefs, evolution, history, and aspirations, Grinspoon takes us on a three-part journey—the history of our expanding awareness of other planets and our ideas on alien life dating back to the earliest days of astronomy; the science of cosmic evolution and the evolution of life on Earth, including a critique of the “Rare Earth hypothesis”; and the beliefs that humans hold, addressing the limits of our ability to conceptualize or communicate with intelligent aliens and the scientific and philosophical implications of far-future evolutionary possibilities. Rich in personal and often amusing anecdotes, Lonely Planets explores the shifting boundary between planetary science and natural philosophy, and reveals how the search for extraterrestrial life unites our spiritual and scientific quests for connection with the cosmos. Includes a new foreword about recent Mars discoveries “An outstanding introduction to cosmic evolution.” —San Jose Mercury News “[A] terrific book.” —San Diego Union-Tribune “A personable chat on life, the universe and everything.” —Publishers Weekly

The Life of Super-Earths

The Life of Super-Earths PDF Author: Dimitar Sasselov
Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
ISBN: 046502193X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
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.

Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth

Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth PDF Author: Adam Frank
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393609022
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Winner of the 2019 Phi Beta Kappa Award for Science "A valuable perspective on the most important problem of our time." —Adam Becker, NPR Light of the Stars tells the story of humanity’s coming of age as we realize we might not be alone in this universe. Astrophysicist Adam Frank traces the question of alien life from the ancient Greeks to modern thinkers, and he demonstrates that recognizing the possibility of its existence might be the key to save us from climate change. With clarity and conviction, Light of the Stars asks the consequential question: What can the likely presence of life on other planets tell us about our own fate?

Alien Worlds

Alien Worlds PDF Author: David Aguilar
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
ISBN: 1426311109
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
Considers the plausibility of alien life and what creatures living on extrasolar planets might be like, drawing on scientific sources to depict alien creatures who have adapted to the unique characteristics of their respective environments.

Expedition

Expedition PDF Author: Wayne Douglas Barlowe
Publisher: Workman Publishing
ISBN: 9780894806292
Category : Life on other planets
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In 2358 Wayne Douglas Barlowe joined the first manned flight to Darwin IV, a newly discovered world beyond our solar system. Here he provides naturalistic paintings that vividly capture the alien creatures he encountered. Illustrations, full-color paintings, and maps.

Alien Oceans

Alien Oceans PDF Author: Kevin Hand
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691227284
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Inside the epic quest to find life on the water-rich moons at the outer reaches of the solar system Where is the best place to find life beyond Earth? We often look to Mars as the most promising site in our solar system, but recent scientific missions have revealed that some of the most habitable real estate may actually lie farther away. Beneath the frozen crusts of several of the small, ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn lurk vast oceans that may have existed for as long as Earth, and together may contain more than fifty times its total volume of liquid water. Could there be organisms living in their depths? Alien Oceans reveals the science behind the thrilling quest to find out. Kevin Peter Hand is one of today's leading NASA scientists, and his pioneering research has taken him on expeditions around the world. In this captivating account of scientific discovery, he brings together insights from planetary science, biology, and the adventures of scientists like himself to explain how we know that oceans exist within moons of the outer solar system, like Europa, Titan, and Enceladus. He shows how the exploration of Earth's oceans is informing our understanding of the potential habitability of these icy moons, and draws lessons from what we have learned about the origins of life on our own planet to consider how life could arise on these distant worlds. Alien Oceans describes what lies ahead in our search for life in our solar system and beyond, setting the stage for the transformative discoveries that may await us.

Space Art

Space Art PDF Author: Michael Carroll
Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
ISBN: 9780823048762
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Space... the final art frontier... What is it like to walk through an alien world? Artists have been imagining otherworldly landscapes for hundreds of years—but only in the past few decades have we started to see what other planets and moons really look like. These exciting scientific discoveries have led to ever more "realistic" space art.Space Artshows artists how to capture and create these partly real, partly imagined vistas by combining the latest facts with traditional landscape drawing. Put the two together and the results are memorable, dreamlike, haunting. AuthorMichael Carroll, one of the country's most distinguished astronomical artists, explains how to use washes and texturing, how to paint water and ice, rocks and geological formations, craters and alien skies. Linear and atmospheric perspective, color, composition, color, value, and shading are also covered as they relate to showing otherworldly landscapes. Fourteen paintings, building in complexity, are presented step-by-step, accompanied by NASA photos and the author’s own photos of mysterious landscapes closer to home: Death Valley, Iceland, Alaska. For everyone who has ever wanted to travel to far-off worlds... or just show what they’re imagining...Space Artis a rocket to the stars. • Combines the latest scientific research with landscape painting techniques • Author is one of the world’s foremost painters of space art • Twenty projects shown step by step—an art course in a book!

Planet Hunters

Planet Hunters PDF Author: Lucas Ellerbroek
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780238789
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Astronomers are on the verge of answering one of our most profound questions: are we alone in the universe? The ability to detect life in remote solar systems is at last within sight, and its discovery—even if only in microbial form—would revolutionize our self-image. Planet Hunters is the rollicking tale of the search for extraterrestrial life and the history of an academic discipline. Astronomer Lucas Ellerbroek takes readers on a fantastic voyage through space, time, history, and even to the future as he describes the field of exoplanet research, from the early ideas of sixteenth-century heretic Giordano Bruno to the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1995 to the invention of the Kepler Space Telescope. We join him on his travels as he meets with leading scientists in the field, including Michel Mayor, who discovered the first exoplanet, and Bill Borucki, principal investigator for NASA’s Kepler mission. Taken together, the experiences, passion, and perseverance of the scientists featured here make the book an exciting and compelling read. Presenting cutting-edge research in a dynamic and accessible way, Planet Hunters is a refreshing look into a field where new discoveries come every week and paradigms shift every year.