Exoplanets and Alien Solar Systems

Exoplanets and Alien Solar Systems PDF Author: Tahir Yaqoob
Publisher: New Earth Labs
ISBN: 0974168920
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
An unprecedented number of planets outside of the solar system have been found, with an explosion in the number of discoveries in recent years. Find out what has been happening in this rapidly advancing arena of human exploration, what these extrasolar planets are like, and why some traditional ideas face being thrown out.

Exoplanets and Alien Solar Systems

Exoplanets and Alien Solar Systems PDF Author: Tahir Yaqoob
Publisher: New Earth Labs
ISBN: 0974168920
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
An unprecedented number of planets outside of the solar system have been found, with an explosion in the number of discoveries in recent years. Find out what has been happening in this rapidly advancing arena of human exploration, what these extrasolar planets are like, and why some traditional ideas face being thrown out.

Exoplanets

Exoplanets PDF Author: C. R. Kitchin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461406447
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Exoplanets: Finding, Exploring, and Understanding Alien Worlds probes the basis for possible answers to the fundamentals questions asked about these planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. This book examines what such planets might be like, where they are, and how we find them. Until around ten years ago, the only planets that we knew about were within the Solar System. The first genuine planet beyond the confines of the Solar System was discovered only 1988. Since then another 350 or so exoplanets have been detected by various methods, and most of these haven been found in the last ten years. Although many more exoplanets discoveries may be expected to occur even as this book is being read, a large enough data set is now available to form the basis for an informed general account of exoplanets. The topic hence is an extremely "hot" one - all the more so because the recently launched Kepler spacecraft should soon start uncovering many more exoplanets, some perhaps comparable with the Earth (and therefore possibly alternative homes for mankind, if we could ever reach them). Exoplanets: Finding, Exploring, and Understanding Alien Life gives a comprehensive, balances, and above all accurate account of exoplanets.

Exoplanets

Exoplanets PDF Author: Donald Goldsmith
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674988876
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
“How do alien, faraway worlds reveal their existence to Earthlings? Let Donald Goldsmith count the ways. As an experienced astronomer and a gifted storyteller, he is the perfect person to chronicle the ongoing hunt for planets of other stars.” —Dava Sobel Astronomers have recently discovered thousands of planets that orbit stars throughout our Milky Way galaxy. With his characteristic wit and style, Donald Goldsmith presents the science of exoplanets and the search for extraterrestrial life in a way that Earthlings with little background in astronomy or astrophysics can understand and enjoy. Much of what has captured the imagination of planetary scientists and the public is the unexpected strangeness of these distant worlds, which bear little resemblance to the planets in our solar system. The sizes, masses, and orbits of exoplanets detected so far raise new questions about how planets form and evolve. Still more tantalizing are the efforts to determine which exoplanets might support life. Astronomers are steadily improving their means of examining these planets’ atmospheres and surfaces, with the help of advanced spacecraft sent into orbits a million miles from Earth. These instruments will provide better observations of planetary systems in orbit around the dim red stars that throng the Milky Way. Previously spurned as too faint to support life, these cool stars turn out to possess myriad planets nestled close enough to maintain Earthlike temperatures. The quest to find other worlds brims with possibility. Exoplanets shows how astronomers have broadened our planetary horizons, and suggests what may come next, including the ultimate discovery: life beyond our home planet.

Strange New Worlds

Strange New Worlds PDF Author: Ray Jayawardhana
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400846544
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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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.

Exoplanets

Exoplanets PDF Author: Karen Latchana Kenney
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books ™
ISBN: 1512439088
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description
Until the mid-1990s, scientists only guessed that the universe held exoplanets, or planets beyond our solar system. But using advanced physics and powerful telescopes, scientists have since identified more than three thousand exoplanets. This work has revealed fascinating worlds, including a planet that oozes lavalike fluids and a planet that glows bright pink. Even more fascinating, scientists think that some exoplanets might contain life. Many orbit in the Goldilocks zone, the region around a star that's not too hot or too cold for liquid water, a key ingredient for life. This book examines exoplanets, the possibilities for life beyond Earth, and the cutting-edge technologies scientists use to learn about distant worlds.

Exoplanets

Exoplanets PDF Author: Michael E. Summers
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588345955
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
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.

Planet Quest

Planet Quest PDF Author: Ken Croswell
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780192880833
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Are we alone? In 1995 planet hunters discovered the first alien solar system around a star like our own Sun. Ken Croswell tells the fascinating story of this discovery and the people who made it, then explores the possibility that one day we may have the technology to travel to different solar systems and find life.

Solar System Planets and Exoplanets

Solar System Planets and Exoplanets PDF Author: Joseph Bevelacqua
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781839693137
Category : Extrasolar planets
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Solar System Planets and Exoplanets provides a current viewpoint of planetary systems. The solar system's planets and exoplanets are addressed in an overview manner, and specific space probe data are used to provide a current state of knowledge of Venus and Mars. Recent Mars data and associated observations are addressed in several chapters. Of particular interest are data that suggest the possibility that life could have existed on the planet's surface during its past when Mars' atmosphere was wetter and denser. The search for life on Mars is one of the main objectives of space missions, and it is an ongoing theme of this book. Key to the existence of life is the evolution of the radiation output of the Sun that is discussed and projected into the future. Space probe data related to the Asteroid Belt is also presented. Technological advances in terms of operating aircraft on Mars and propulsion systems provide useful commentary regarding future innovations that will enhance upcoming space missions and the search for life.

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.

Envisioning Exoplanets

Envisioning Exoplanets PDF Author: Michael Carroll
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588346919
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
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.