Planets

by David A. Rothery

Extensively illustrated, this authoritative, easy-to-understand guide describes the nature and origin of the solar system. It looks at the internal structure, surface features, and weather patterns of each planet and its major satellites; discusses the possibilities of finding life on other planetary bodies; covers asteroids and the icy bodies beyond Pluto; and explains how to see the planets in the sky.In Table 10.2 (p.149) the orbital period of 1.997 days quoted for S/2004 S1 was a misprint for 0.997 days. However, newer measurements show the period to be 1.01 days.In the Planetary Facts table for Neptune (p 184), the orbital period should read 164.8 years (not 163.7 years).In Table 12.1 (p 191), the value for the mass of Triton should read 2.14 × 10^22 kg (not 10^20 kg)

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Space, Astronomy, Education

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2003

About the author

David Rothery is Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the School of Physical Sciences within the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics at the Open University.

Reviews

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book to read as part of the Open University Short course (S196 Planets: an Introduction). I really enjoyed studying the course and this book is an integral part of that. However, I read it first a couple of months before the start of the course straight through from cover to cover, and found the style a little dry. That isn't to say that it isn't a fairly readable book, there are plenty of science books that you couldn't read from end to end like that without being bored to death. Nevertheless, I would imagine that if you were simply reading the book for your own information and not with a goal in mind like studying the OU course, it might be a bit heavy going at times.

However, the book is well set out and gets across a huge amount of information in a relatively small book. Each chapter looks at a different planet and has a table of information at the beginning and is simply packed with facts about the solar system including the asteroid and Kuiper belts. It also has a brief chapter at the end about exo-planets (planets that orbit other stars). Unfortunately the vast majority of illustrations are black and white, although it has some colour plates in the middle.

I would definitely highly recommend this as a reference book, rather than one to read straight through. You can dip in and find out a remarkable amount about any of the planets in just a few pages.

[Rose]

This was a set book for a course I've been taking. It had a lot of information although I felt that in places it could have been clearer.