Infinite Worlds: An Illustrated Voyage to Planets beyond Our Sun

by Ray Villard, Lynette R. Cook

Merely a decade ago there were no known planets orbiting sunlike stars outside our own solar system. In the past ten years, however, fast-paced developments in astronomy have revealed over 140 extrasolar planets—with more discoveries surely on the way. Though it will be years before we have direct images of these far-flung worlds, this lavishly illustrated book gives us an idea of what they might look like. A fascinating exploration of the cosmos written for a wide audience, Infinite Worlds brings together Lynette Cook's internationally renowned astronomical artwork, the latest and most dramatic images from the world's top observatories, and up-to-the-minute scientific findings on subjects ranging from the big bang and stellar evolution to a possible universe filled with countless planets and life forms.

The newly discovered planets are boggling astronomers' minds with their bizarre characteristics, including an unimagined diversity of sizes and orbits. In Lynette Cook's scientifically based illustrations—many newly created for this book—we glimpse the landscapes and atmospheres that might adorn these planets. Ray Villard's text elegantly describes the state of astronomy today, imagines where it will take us in the coming years, ponders the chances of success for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and explores the survivability of life in an evolving and accelerating universe.

Genres: Science, Astronomy

272 pages, Hardcover

First published May 21, 2005

Reviews

[John Strange · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating work on planetary evolution theories and speculations on extra-solar planets. Vivid illustrations.

Published 2005 (approx) just before the "boom" in discovery of greater numbers of planets, the book nevertheless remains valuable and worth reading.

[Tbrierly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something happened while most of us were dozing. Scientists have discovered more than 200 planets orbiting other stars (ie not our Sun). At first most of these planets being discovered were super-Jovian, that is, much larger than Jupiter, the giant in our own solar system, and they orbited their star at ridiculously fast rates, sometimes as little as 4 or 5 days. Not much like our own home planet, so hard to get excited about.

However, the discovery methods are getting better all the time. We are now able to find much smaller planets, closer to our own size. And soon we will be able to actually get some visual information about the planets we are discovering (so far almost all of the "exoplanets" have been discovered by observing the effect they have on their star). One day we may hear an announcement that a newly discovered planet is roughly Earth-sized, and has an atmosphere with significant amounts of oxygen.

The implications of this will be astounding. Why? Because oxygen is a reducer. It likes to bind to other elements. So an atmosphere with significant amounts of free oxygen is almost certainly an indication that life is present on the planet. Life is the most likely explanation for why oxygen would be in the atmosphere instead of locked into rocks and so forth.

What an interesting day that will be!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting science and neat space art.