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12 books match the query 'Planetary'

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Alone but Not Lonely

Louis Friedman

University of Arizona Press, 2023

Humans have always been fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial life, often wondering if we are alone in the universe. Drawing on nearly fifty years as a leader in planetary exploration, Louis Friedman brings into focus the subject of extraterrestrial life, separating knowledge from conjecture, fact from fiction, to draw scientific and technical conclusions that answer this enduring question.

Friedman argues that intelligent life is probably rare in the universe (maybe even uniquely on Earth) but that simple life is likely abundant on millions or billions of planets waiting now to be discovered. He asserts that studying and searching for extraterrestrial life cannot be done by interstellar probes—due to the vastness of space and the comparative brevity of human lifespans—but it can be done remotely by a new technique involving the solar gravity lens that can magnify exoplanets by tens of billions. This technique will allow humankind to explore exoplanets and open up an exciting new field of comparative astrobiology.

Wide-ranging in scope, this book discusses the history of searching for extraterrestrial life, the scientific evidence thereof, and finally his own conclusions on what’s next. Included in the book are three appendices: an explanation of interstellar messaging, a reprint of a debate between Carl Sagan and Ernst Mayr on extraterrestrial intelligence, and an opinion essay on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

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Facing the Planetary

Entangled Humanism and the Politics of Swarming

William E. Connolly

Duke University Press, 2017

In Facing the Planetary William E. Connolly expands his influential work on the politics of pluralization, capitalism, fragility, and secularism to address the complexities of climate change and to complicate notions of the Anthropocene. Focusing on planetary processes—including the ocean conveyor, glacier flows, tectonic plates, and species evolution—he combines a critical understanding of capitalism with an appreciation of how such nonhuman systems periodically change on their own. Drawing upon scientists and intellectuals such as Lynn Margulis, Michael Benton, Alfred North Whitehead, Anna Tsing, Mahatma Gandhi, Wangari Maathai, Pope Francis, Bruno Latour, and Naomi Klein, Connolly focuses on the gap between those regions creating the most climate change and those suffering most from it. He addresses the creative potential of a "politics of swarming" by which people in different regions and social positions coalesce to reshape dominant priorities. He also explores how those displaying spiritual affinities across differences in creed can energize a militant assemblage that is already underway.

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For the Love of Mars

A Human History of the Red Planet

Matthew Shindell

University of Chicago Press, 2023

A tour of Mars in the human imagination, from ancient astrologers to modern explorers.

Mars and its secrets have fascinated and mystified humans since ancient times. For the Love of Mars surveys the red planet’s place in the human imagination, beginning with ancient astrologers and skywatchers and ending in our present moment of exploration and virtual engagement.

National Air and Space Museum curator Matthew Shindell describes how historical figures across eras and around the world have made sense of this mysterious planet. We meet Mayan astrologer priests who incorporated Mars into seasonal calendars and religious ceremonies, Babylonian astrologers who discerned bad omens, figures of the Scientific Revolution who struggled to comprehend Mars as a world, Victorian astronomers who sought signs of intelligent life, and twentieth- and twenty-first-century scientists who have established a technological presence on the planet’s surface. Along the way, we encounter writers and artists from each of these periods who took readers and viewers along on imagined journeys to Mars.

By focusing on the diverse human stories behind the telescopes and behind the robots we know and love, Shindell shows how Mars exploration has evolved in ways that have also expanded knowledge about other facets of the universe. Captained by an engaging and erudite expert, For the Love of Mars is a captivating voyage through time and space for anyone curious about Curiosity and the red planet.

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How to Find a Martian

A Fossil Hunter’s Guide to the Red Planet

Sean McMahon

University of Chicago Press, 2027

Join today’s search for signs of alien life in fossil remains from prehistoric Mars, an Earth-like world that glittered with rivers, lakes, and deep blue seas.

Billions of years ago, there was another Earth in our solar system: the temperate and blue-streaked world of ancient Mars. Today, the rocky ruins of that lost world offer our best hope of finding signs of alien life. In How to Find a Martian, astrobiologist and paleontologist Sean McMahon argues that we may soon find fossils on Mars—perhaps even in our lifetime.

There are now thousands of astrobiologists around the world, using the tools of modern science to answer some of the most profound, intellectually exciting questions that have ever been asked: What is life? How does it evolve and proliferate across vast spans of space and time, and what forms might it take on alien worlds? The search for life on Mars is a mainstay of this research program, and it has never been more advanced, more sophisticated, or better funded than it is today. Although scientists have not yet found fossils on Mars, astrobiologist Sean McMahon says, we have at least learned how to find them. We now know which regions and landscapes on Mars could once have supported life and preserved its remains in rocks and minerals. We know how the remains of living organisms can end up woven into the texture of ancient rocks, transmuted into minerals or transcribed into the subtle language of fossil carbon molecules. But we have also learned to be cautious—and not to be fooled when non-living nature imitates the patterns of life.

Accessibly explaining trailblazing ideas and findings in astronomy, geology, microbiology, and paleontology, McMahon makes a persuasive and alluring case that we have the tools, ideas, methods, and missions to find past life on Mars.

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Jupiter

Studies of the interior, atmosphere, magnestosphere and satellites

Tom Gehrels

University of Arizona Press, 1976

When Jupiter was first published in August, 1976, editor T. Gehrels wrote, "we may never do a better book."

Summarizing the research and data following the first flyby of Jupiter in December 1973, this work brings together the knowledge of the best scientists in the fields at the time of it's publication. The work covers the origin of Jupiter, origin and structure of the satellites, models of Jupiter, comparison of those models, and much more.

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Planetary Rings

Richard Greenberg

University of Arizona Press, 1984

Published in 1985, Planetary Rings brought together scientist from a variety of disciplines to the study of planetary rings to provide a textbook for graduate students and researchers in related fields. It introduced newcomers to the subject and addressed issues at the forefront of ring research at the time.

At the time of it's publication, the editors wrote, "it is our hope that this book will become out-of-date quickly, that new observations and theoretical connections will continue to revolutionize our knowledge of planetary rings."

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Protostars and Planets

Tom Gehrels

University of Arizona Press, 1979

Originally published in 1979, at the time of it's publication this work was a unique source book on star formation and the origin of planetary systems from some 35 distinguished authors. Topics include the formation of stars from the cloudy to the stellar to the planetary state. Special emphasis on stars believed capable of producing planets. This foundational work sought to define a new discipline and set the course for the University of Arizona Space Science series.

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Protostars and Planets II

David C. Black

University of Arizona Press, 1985

Based on meetings held in Tucson, Arizona in 1984, this volume brought up-to-date recent advances and research on the cosmogony of stars and planets. This book presents the written thoughts of the principle speakers (and their colleagues) from the 1984 meeting. This work continued work started in 1978 to investigate the problems of star formation and the formation of the solar system.

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Protostars and Planets III

Eugene Levy

University of Arizona Press, 1993

Previous Space Science Series volumes Protostars and Planets (1978) and Protostars and Planets II (1985) were among the most timely offerings of this illustrious collection of technical works. Protostars and Planets III continues to address fundamental questions concerning the formation of stars and planetary systems in general and of our solar system in particular. Drawing from advances in observational, experimental, and theoretical research, it summarizes our understanding of these processes and addresses major open questions and research issues. Among the more notable subjects covered in the more than three dozen chapters are the collapse of clouds and the formation and evolution of stars and disks; nucleosynthesis and star formation; the occurrence and properties of disks around young stars; T Tauri stars and their accretion disks; gaseous accretion and the formation of the giant planets; comets and the origin of the Solar-System; and the long-term dynamical evolution and stability of the solar system.

Protostars and Planets III reflects the enormous progress made in understanding star and planet formation as a result of new observational capabilities and cooperative research among scientists from diverse fields.

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Satellites of Jupiter

David Morrison

University of Arizona Press, 1982

Originally published in 1982

From the original publication:
The findings of Voyager have brought Jupiter's moons out from the shadows. Now as much of interest to geologists as to astronomers, these satellites are brought under closer scrutiny by more than 50 international authorities in this volume. Included is research on thermal evolution, surface composition, cratering time scales, and other subjects; but also key chapters focusing on the satellite Io's volcanic eruptions, thermodynamics, phase composition and more. These 24 contributions constitute a reference that will stand as the decade's definitive work on Jupiter's satellites and a springboard to further hypotheses.

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Saturn

Tom Gehrels

University of Arizona Press, 1984

Originally published in 1984

From the original publication:
The Saturn system is the most complex in the solar system, and this book is to summarize it all: the planet, rings, satellites, the magnetospheres, and the interaction with the interplanetary medium. The effective date of the material is approximately November 1983.

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