The Life of Super-Earths PDF Download

Author: Dimitar Sasselov
Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
ISBN: 046502193X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
An astronomy professor at Harvard University discusses the possibilities of finding other worlds that sustain alien life forms, citing recent breakthroughs in biology and exoplanetary astronomy, including the recent discovery of arsenic-based bacteria in a California lake.

Author: Dimitar Sasselov
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465023401
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus fomented a revolution when he debunked the geocentric view of the universe, proving instead that our planet wasn't central to the universe. Almost five hundred years later, the revolution he set in motion is nearly complete. Just as earth is not the center of things, the life on it, it appears, is not unique to the planet. Or is it?The Life of Super-Earths is a breathtaking tour of current efforts to answer the age-old question: Are we alone in the universe? Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov, the founding director of Harvard University's Origins of Life Initiative, takes us on a fast-paced hunt for habitable planets and alien life forms. He shows how the search for "super-Earths" -- rocky planets like our own that orbit other stars -- may provide the key to answering essential questions about the origins of life here and elsewhere. That is, if we don't find the answers to those questions here first. As Sasselov and other astronomers have uncovered planets with mixes of elements different from our own, chemists have begun working out the heretofore unseen biochemistries that those planets could support. That knowledge is feeding directly into synthetic biology -- the effort to build wholly novel forms of life -- making it likely that we will first discover truly "alien" life forms in an earthly lab, rather than on a remote planet thousands of light years away. Sasselov tells the gripping story of a moment of unprecedented potential -- a convergence of pioneering efforts in astronomy and biology to peer into the unknown. The Life of Super-Earths offers nothing short of a transformation in our understanding of life and its place in the cosmos.

Author: Michael E. Summers
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588345955
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The past few years have seen an incredible explosion in our knowledge of the universe. Since its 2009 launch, the Kepler satellite has discovered more than two thousand exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. More exoplanets are being discovered all the time, and even more remarkable than the sheer number of exoplanets is their variety. In Exoplanets, astronomer Michael Summers and physicist James Trefil explore these remarkable recent discoveries: planets revolving around pulsars, planets made of diamond, planets that are mostly water, and numerous rogue planets wandering through the emptiness of space. This captivating book reveals the latest discoveries and argues that the incredible richness and complexity we are finding necessitates a change in our questions and mental paradigms. In short, we have to change how we think about the universe and our place in it, because it is stranger and more interesting than we could have imagined.

Author: Dimitar D. Sasselov
Publisher:
ISBN: 9786613628336
Category : Exobiology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"In the past year, we have witnessed unprecedented breakthroughs in the seemingly unrelated fields of synthetic biology and exoplanetary astronomy. Just recently, arsenic-based bacteria was discovered in a California lake-both puzzling and electrifying the scientific world. In The Life of Super-Earths, expert astronomer Dimitar Sasselov aims to highlight these groundbreaking findings and explain how what we learn in the laboratory informs our investigation of the universe, and vice versa. The discovery of a New Earth, or other world, may be in our future. But a truly 'alien' life form is more likely to emerge from our planet's natural environment or in a petri dish at a research lab. We may cross a milestone into the era of synthetic biology under the microscope. These breakthroughs will shed new light on our place in the universe and answer the age-old question: Are we alone in the universe? The Life of Super-Earths offers nothing short of a revolution in our understanding of life and its place in the cosmos"--

Author: Ray Jayawardhana
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400846544
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
An insider's look at the cutting-edge science of today's planet hunters In Strange New Worlds, renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets—and alien life—beyond our solar system. Only in the past two decades, after millennia of speculation, have astronomers begun to discover planets around other stars—thousands in fact. Now they are closer than ever to unraveling distant twins of the Earth. In this book, Jayawardhana vividly recounts the stories of the scientists and the remarkable breakthroughs that have ushered in this extraordinary age of exploration. He describes the latest findings--including his own—that are challenging our view of the cosmos and casting new light on the origins and evolution of planets and planetary systems. He reveals how technology is rapidly advancing to support direct observations of Jupiter-like gas giants and super-Earths—rocky planets with several times the mass of our own planet—and how astronomers use biomarkers to seek possible life on other worlds. Strange New Worlds provides an insider's look at the cutting-edge science of today's planet hunters, our prospects for discovering alien life, and the debates and controversies at the forefront of extrasolar-planet research. In a new afterword, Jayawardhana explains some of the most recent developments as we search for the first clues of life on other planets.

Author: Michael Carroll
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588346919
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Come along for the captivating hunt for planets like our own Envisioning Exoplanets traces the journey of astronomers and researchers on their quest to explore the universe for a planet like Earth. Exoplanets--worlds beyond our solar system--were once dismissed as science fiction. But now, with more than 4,000 confirmed exoplanets, countless possibilities exist for what remains to be uncovered in the universe. This book follows the exhilarating progression of exoplanet research from its earliest stages operating on the fringes of scientific research to the newest developments of renowned agencies around the world searching for planets capable of hosting life. Featuring provocative questions about the universe and more than 200 remarkable illustrations from Michael Caroll, Ron Miller, and other key members of the International Association of Astronomical Artists, Envisioning Exoplanets is an intergalactic visual voyage.

Author: Donald Goldsmith
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674988876
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Astronomers have recently discovered thousands of exotic planets that orbit stars throughout our Milky Way galaxy. With his characteristic wit and style, Donald Goldsmith shows how these observations have already broadened our planetary horizons, and tells us what may come next, including the ultimate discovery: life beyond our home planet.

Author: Peter D. Ward
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0387218483
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
What determines whether complex life will arise on a planet, or even any life at all? Questions such as these are investigated in this groundbreaking book. In doing so, the authors synthesize information from astronomy, biology, and paleontology, and apply it to what we know about the rise of life on Earth and to what could possibly happen elsewhere in the universe. Everyone who has been thrilled by the recent discoveries of extrasolar planets and the indications of life on Mars and the Jovian moon Europa will be fascinated by Rare Earth, and its implications for those who look to the heavens for companionship.

Author: DK
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0744057124
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
This visual encyclopedia is the ultimate page-turner, bringing our planet's most diverse and dramatic features together in spectacular style. Go on a breathtaking journey around the world. Scale the highest mountains, explore incredible weather patterns, and come face-to-face with the deadly forces of nature. Kids can explore the incredible, ever-changing features of Earth through mind-blowing photography, brand-new CGI artwork, fun facts, and stats. This fascinating reference book is sure to inspire the ecologists and scientists of tomorrow. Curious kids want to know everything about their planet. How do tornadoes form? What does the center of a volcanic eruption look like? Where is the hottest inhabited place on Earth? Investigate our world from its core to its cosmic connections when you journey through the spectacular imagery of colorful coral reefs, castle-like ice caves, and violent microbursts. This lively encyclopedia engages young readers with riveting information and eye-catching photography. Super Earth Encyclopedia will take your child on a jaw-dropping journey of discovering the most fascinating features of our planet. The Biggest, Highest, Most Extraordinary Features on Our Planet Feel the mighty power of the highest waterfall and discover superheated water from a giant geyser. This educational book for children will ensure that you never look at the world, or its wonders, in the same way again. Inside the pages of this stunning book about Earth, you’ll find: • Beautiful photography and CGI artworks of Earth’s most dramatic features. • Dashboard-style fact files that provide information at a glance. • Informative, fun-to-read text that is based on the latest discoveries and scientific research. More from DK Books: There are more Super Encyclopedias to explore! Super Bug Encyclopedia gives you an unprecedented insight into the complex life of creepy crawlies, and Super Human Encyclopedia showcases from head to toe how extraordinary the human body is.

Author: James Trefil
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588346730
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The captivating possibilities of extraterrestrial life on exoplanets, based on current scientific knowledge of existing worlds and forms of life It is now known that we live in a galaxy with more planets than stars. The Milky Way alone encompasses 30 trillion potential home planets. Scientists Trefil and Summers bring readers on a marvelous experimental voyage through the possibilities of life--unlike anything we have experienced so far--that could exist on planets outside our own solar system. Life could be out there in many forms: on frozen worlds, living in liquid oceans beneath ice and communicating (and even battling) with bubbles; on super-dense planets, where they would have evolved body types capable of dealing with extreme gravity; on tidally locked planets with one side turned eternally toward a star; and even on "rogue worlds," which have no star at all. Yet this is no fictional flight of fancy: the authors take what we know about exoplanets and life on our own world and use that data to hypothesize about how, where, and which sorts of life might develop. Imagined Life is a must-have for anyone wanting to learn how the realities of our universe may turn out to be far stranger than fiction.