LIVES OF THE PLANETS. A Natural History of the Solar System

Corfield, Richard

ISBN 10: 0465014038 / ISBN 13: 9780465014033

Published by Basic Books, Inc., New York, NY, 2007

About this Item

This work provides a tour of our solar system, from the sun to recently demoted Pluto, to the Kuiper Belt and beyond the edge of the interstellar void. The author describes the history of humanity's unfolding discovery of our solar system's secrets by use of such equipment as the Neolithic computer, Galileo's telescope, and the NASA Mars rovers. Photographs and an index are included. This HARDCOVER copy is clean and solid.

Seller Inventory # 011210

Bibliographic Details

• Title: LIVES OF THE PLANETS. A Natural History of the Solar System
• Publisher: Basic Books, Inc., New York, NY
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465014038
• ISBN 13: 9780465014033
• Binding: Cloth
• Edition: First Edition, First Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

Lives of the Planets describes a scientific field in the midst of a revolution. Planetary science has mainly been a descriptive science, but it is becoming increasingly experimental. The space probes that went up between the 1960s and 1990s were primarily generalists-they collected massive amounts of information so that scientists could learn what questions to pursue. But recent missions have become more focused: Scientists know better what information they want and how to collect it. Even now probes are on their way to Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Pluto, with Europa-one of Jupiter's moons-on the agenda. In a sweeping look into the manifold objects inhabiting the depths of space, Lives of the Planets delves into the mythology and the knowledge humanity has built over the ages. Placing our current understanding in historical context, Richard Corfield explores the seismic shifts in planetary astronomy and probes why we must change our perspective of our place in the universe. In our era of extraordinary discovery, this is the first comprehensive survey of this new understanding and the history of how we got here.

About the Author

Richard Corfield received his doctorate from Cambridge University. He is currently a Visiting Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research at the Open University, which oversaw both the Beagle 2 Mars mission and the Huygens mission to Titan.