February 15, 2023
An exploration of the feasibility and ethical implications of establishing human life beyond Earth. In his latest, Impey, an acclaimed astronomy professor and author of Einstein's Monsters, Dreams of Other Worlds, and many other books about the cosmos, blends a history of astronomy with a tour of the latest technologies and leading pioneers in space exploration. To date, scientists have discovered more than 5,000 exoplanets, which are planets that orbit around stars other than our sun. This number is expected to rapidly increase as technology makes it easier to recognize and image exoplanets and to identify those in the so-called "habitable zone." In turn, this means that the possibility of discovering extraterrestrial life is increasingly within reach. "It is astonishingly likely that we are not the only time and place that an advanced civilization has evolved," writes Impey. Meanwhile, the habitability of Earth is diminishing, with little progress toward a solution to the current "sustainability crisis." The author surveys the many planets that may harbor life, the current technologies and scientists that enable these profound discoveries, and the possible future technologies that may bring us there and allow for long-term settlement. Throughout these complex yet fluid discussions, Impey emphasizes the need for careful introspection about the ethics of expanding our footprint in space and whether we should instead focus our resources on overcoming climate challenges on Earth. "Populating space is an activity that pushes us outward while inducing introspection and motivating us to grow as a species," he writes. In the coming decades, a slew of endeavors to image, traverse, and explore the far reaches of our solar system and beyond will bring these issues to the forefront of decisions for long-term survival. "We are curious," he writes, "whether the experiment that began on Earth soon after its formation has been replicated anywhere else." A provocative and expansive introduction to the exciting new field of exoplanet science.
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February 20, 2023
In this stimulating survey, Impey (Einstein’s Monsters), an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, takes readers on a tour of notable planets beyond our solar system, or exoplanets. He covers the scientific advances and discoveries made since the 1995 identification of the first exoplanet—a body half the mass of Jupiter that circles its star in a “blistering four-day” year—launched a proliferation of research that has led contemporary astronomers to posit that “about 60 percent of sunlike stars have a habitable, earthlike planet.” Explaining the sophisticated techniques scientists developed for studying exoplanets, Impey describes how astronomers infer details about atmosphere and chemical composition from the changes undergone by starlight as it passes through an exoplanet’s atmosphere on its way to Earth, revealing planets with 5,400 mph winds and temperatures hot enough to vaporize metal. The author also discusses efforts to find life elsewhere in the cosmos, including the European Space Agency’s plans to search one of Jupiter’s moons and a Russian philanthropist’s quest to send nanobots to planets orbiting the star nearest to our sun. Impey strikes the right balance between accessibility and scientific rigor, and the glimpses into the extreme conditions on distant planets will whet readers’ curiosity. Armchair astronomers will be entranced.