Michael Summers

A very good look at exoplanets. Especially in regards to rogue planets, the science behind how planets form, how tectonics, planet types/sizes, etc, all factor into evolution, and how evolution on other worlds affects our own existence and if there is other life out in the universe at large.

The writing style is both well done and easy to read. Jargon where it needs to be, but written so laymen such as myself can easily read it. The science behind how civilizations grow, how life evolves on planets, how planets form, how rogue planets function, and how diamond, water, and green pond scum planets could be real and active in our universe is all written concisely enough to be clear and readable and gives enough information, as well as written so its not a slog to read through, entertaining, and easy to read.

The ending chapters on SETI and if we should or shouldn't be actively seeking life outside of our own solar system was done well and showcases the problems we face, both on Earth, and in the universe at large, in regards to life elsewhere.… (mehr)

Exoplanets
Author: Michael Summers and James Trefil
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
Publishing Date: 2017
Pgs: 218
Dewey: 523.24 SUM
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
Exoplanets are being found at a exponential rate. Our solar system is not alone. And those other planets out there come in diversities that we hadn’t imagined just a handful of years ago. This book explores the variety and the places where they appear, from planets orbiting pulsars to diamond planets to water worlds and more. So much is being found that shifts the paradigm that planetary scientists are continuing to have to update their views on what constitutes a planet and where you’ll find them. Science is awesome.
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Genre:
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Cosmology
Space
Science
Planetary Science

Why this book:
I love space.
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The Feel:
There is a sense of wonder communicated in these pages.

Favorite Concept:
The problem with too many scientists, science fiction writers, and the general public is that we expect to find life out there to be like us.

55 Cancri E with a liquid carbon interior, cooling as it nears the surface, and diamond spewing volcanoes producing sparkling skies and fields of diamonds.

Hmm Moments:
Hot Jupiters, gas giants that orbit in close to their stars, maybe they formed where they are, maybe they were rogue planets caught in the star’s gravity and pulled in, or maybe they formed like Jupiter and Saturn and are in the process of orbiting in close before moving back out toward their current/normal orbital range.

Imagine if an O’Neill Colony suddenly appeared, full of aliens looking for a new home. Makes me think of the movie Alien Nation, a personal favorite. But then after I have that thought, I think of Oumuamua, the interstellar object that penetrated the solar system a year or so back and then flew back out.

And, then, bsed on the math and the science of the last two centuries and the fact that there should be others out there, they should be here by now...and that’s the Great Silence.

Are we living through the Great Silence, the Fermi Paradox, or are we in an alien zoo?
1...They really are out there, but they aren’t interested in us.
2...They really are out there, but they’re protecting us.
3...They really are out there, and we’re going to get it unless we mend our ways.
4...We’re all alone.

Regarding the Great Filter and since we’re dealing with hypothetical science, I’m going to reach into faith of some God Alien and say, “What if we’re the first experiment?” [She’ll never read this, but I put the God Alien thing in here especially for Cadi. She loves Ancient Aliens. One of her favorite sayings is “God is an alien.” Love you, baby]

WTF Moments:
Giordano Bruno, whom I knew from Neil Degrasse Tyson’s Cosmos, believed that there were other worlds out there and challenged the teachings of the Church and was burned at the stake for his heresy. That’s deep.

Wisdom:
On the discussion of alien life, and where is everybody, I believe that they are riding past Earth with their doors locked and their headlights off so we don’t notice them.

Looking back at Giordano Bruno and his groundbreaking belief, I believe that there are or were aliens out there. And within the concept of exotheology I grab onto the same concept that the Mormon Church used, “other children who heard his voice.”

Juxtaposition:
Exotheology and the thought experiment of whether other worlds experienced The Fall from Eden and the Sacrifice of the Lamb.

An Archipelago World would conceivably have many opportunities to create independent life forms whereas the majority of ours on Earth seem to have come from a single pond or tree of life, possibly excluding octopi.

Get Off My Lawn:
Pluto is a planet. Suck it, I.A.U, International Astronomical Union.
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Pacing:
For nonfiction, this was amazingly paced.

Last Page Sound:
Loved the exploration of the science of exoplanets and what could be out there and why we haven’t yet found evidence of alien intelligence.

Author Assessment:
The wonder of science comes through in the words written here.
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The book starts out quite nicely, pointing out that we may generalize rather too broadly from our single solar example, and then pointing out that that really seems to have been the case. Chapter 2 is about very early to quite contemporary explorations of the solar system, what we know about Mars as well as surprising discoveries about the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. It turns out that there is quite a lot of water, some of it liquid, among the moons of the outer planets of the solar system. Chapter 3 deals with early theological and philosophical speculations about other worlds, as well as the earliest detections of exoplanets in the '90s.

Chapter 4 is a discussion about the IAU classification of a planet, the one that demoted Pluto. This chapter is pretty terrible, sprinkled liberally with useless and misleading analogies. But, if you really try, you will discover that the authors are making a point. In the first place it makes sense that Pluto is a planet if and only if other similar KBOs are also planets. In the second place, there is a perfectly good definition of planet that would include Pluto as well as a bunch of similar asteroids like Ceres. This definition has the benefit of basing its classification solely on the structure of the body and what it orbits and being pretty easy to apply. Its only drawback is that it includes Pluto, Ceres, and any similar KBOs that might be discovered. A somewhat inexplicable opposition to including all the KBOs that met the criteria in the set of planets caused some members of the IAU to throw in an extra part of the definition to exclude Pluto. This does seem to have been parochial and misguided. But the authors do a very bad job of getting their point across, and come across as cheap arguers. I was probably most annoyed by the analogy between the discovery of new elements and the discovery of new planets. There isn't any useful one, so why do the writers try it?

Chapter 5 is about the Kepler telescope how it was built, where it is, and how it detects exoplanets; by the transit method. The transit method involves detecting a periodic decrease in a star's brightness due to the planet passing in front of it. This method obviously misses a lot of planets and big ones are more easily detected that way.

Each of Chapter's 6 through 10 is devoted to a single planet, recently discovered in most cases, but in the case of the rogue planet, Haven, imagined. Rogue planets, those without a star, can not be found by the transit method, but may outnumber those that belong to a star. These chapters are not so interesting, because they announce wonders, but are not so technical. What one would like to do is refer back in a few years, to see if astronomers still have the same ideas about the planets.

Chaper 11: Life on Earth
About the evolution of life on earth. The authors claim that the interesting bit is not the evolution of multi-cellular organisms, well-understood and familiar, or the synthesis of amino-acids, could have come from comets could have happened here, but the evolution to the cell.

Chapter 12: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life
The current status of the search for signs of life on Mars. How would one search for signs of life on very distant planets or moons. If we found life that was very different from life as we know it, would we even recognize it?

Chapter 13: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
I don't like the "Drake Equation". For one thing, I don't think it's properly an equation, it's just a dubious formula. And worse, it's a dubious formula w/out any units.

Chapter 14: The Fermi Paradox
If extra-terrestials are so likely, then their great outward colonization expansion should have already passed over our little Earth. So, maybe there isn't anybody out there. This chapter looks at the Drake equation again and considers what might have prevented the sustained operation of intelligent life. The most depressing explanation would be that it promptly killed itself off, because it is that kind of intelligent life. There is a remark made that active SETI would be stupid, because if there are aliens out there, they might be just as nasty and dangerous, but more technologically advanced than we are. Think H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds", but farther away.

Epilogue
A justification of carbon-based-life "chauvinism". A discussion of the importance of rogue planets. Have we been paying to much attention to stellar systems when those are actually the vast minority?

If you want to catch up w/ the current research on planets and you can stomach the sloppy argumentation, the dumb jokes and misquotations, then this book will work for you. But there might be some recent books out there that are just better written.… (mehr)