The Planet Factory

September 1, 2017

In the last few years, 3,500 planets have been confirmed to be orbiting stars outside the solar system, and 1,000 additional candidates have been identified. Tasker (solar system science, Hokkaido Univ., Japan) describes the theoretical formation of these extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, from dusty gas discs while also relating how exoplanets are detected. The Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009, has proven enormously successful at exoplanet detection, as it is more sensitive to the tiny dimming of stars than Earthbound observations. By combining these techniques, astrophysicists can determine the mass and radius of the exoplanet and gain a better sense of the nature of the planet itself: dense, rocky, or gaseous. The author explains how many planets are with either short or long orbits, extreme size or small mass, or possessing other qualities such as a reverse orbit or more than one sun. Inevitably, the question turns to the possibility of life on exoplanets. A brief glossary and suggestions for further reading conclude the work. VERDICT A hot topic in astronomy effectively covered by an award-winning science writer and educator.--Teresa R. Faust, Coll. of Central Florida, Ocala

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 21, 2017
Tasker, a British astrophysicist working at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), delves into “the greatest construction process in the universe” in this well-researched and superbly organized debut. Split into three parts, the book offers a finessed, granular rundown of basic astrophysics and exoplanet science, including star types, detection methods, and solar system formation. Tasker introduces readers to every kind of planet imaginable: worlds composed of lava, water, or diamond, as well as skeletal cores stripped of an atmosphere. She writes that “stars are excellent planet factories under any conditions,” but that our own system is “not normal.” As soon as astronomers have a working theory of planet formation, “a new planet shows up and blows it to pieces.” Tasker’s no-frills style cuts through media hype; for instance, she explains that the “Goldilocks zone” merely indicates that if a “ surface was exactly like that of Earth your cup of water would stay liquid.” Ours may be the only planet with confirmed life, but an active exomoon under the magnetic protection of its host world or “an old super Earth looping an orange dwarf” might be the best places for life to begin and flourish. Tasker entertains as she engagingly expounds on the menagerie of exoplanets, both basic and bizarre. Illus.

November 1, 2017
Astrophysicist Tasker puts Earth's tenuous, life-supporting existence into perspective by revealing the science behind universal forces, beginning with the life cycle of stars, from a dusty cloud of super-cold gas to the formation of solar systems. Detailed yet accessible and cheerful, and based on the latest findings, Tasker's made-for-science-geeks narrative presents the nearly limitless configurations and compositions of stars, planets, and moons. Scientists are learning how planets change throughout their lives, gaining and losing atmosphere, altering magnetic poles, migrating from their original orbits, which all affect the capacity to support living organisms. Thanks to space-based telescopes, free from the earth's atmosphere, hundreds of new exoplanets and even exomoons have been discovered, allowing for the thrilling possibility that life has developed elsewhere. Could there be other Earths? Tasker's account of these explorations will encourage readers to puzzle over the mysteries of what lies beyond our celestial neighborhood. It also inspires readers to contemplate these tantalizing discoveries and possibilities with an eye towards better understanding the changes occurring on our own planet.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2017
An astronomical journey that explores how our cosmos "is an unseen creature that we are struggling to understand through the small sections we have uncovered."Headlines greeted the 1995 discovery of the first planet circling another sunlike star. The number now approaches 4,000, and more continue to turn up. Astrophysicist Tasker (Solar System Science/Hokkaido Univ.) joins the steady stream of authors eager to tell the story. After reviewing the dazzling technology required to detect planets millions of times further out than Pluto, she explains that planets form along with their sun from a whirling disc of gas and dust. Gravity and heat from the young sun eliminate nearby gas, so inner planets are small and rocky. Further out, gas and unvaporized ice remain, resulting in giant planets with thick atmospheres. Our system--four small, rocky inner planets and four immense, gassy outer planets in symmetrical orbits--gave astronomers confidence in their explanations, until exoplanets destroyed it. The first discoveries were huge "hot Jupiters" so close to parent stars that they orbited in a few days. Equally confusing were "super-earths," with wildly varying sizes, atmospheres, and orbits. Well-behaved systems like ours barely exist. Everyone yearns to find another planet suitable for life, which would be similar to ours and at a distance from its sun where the temperature allows liquid water to exist. Many are turning up, but Tasker, no Pollyanna, reminds readers that Venus, Mars, and the moon are also in our sun's temperate zone, and scientists still debate why Earth seems unique. An active researcher, the author clearly knows nearly everything about extrasolar planets, so readers will encounter fascinating details but also learn perhaps more than they want to know about star behavior and planetary formation and evolution. Despite some information overload, this is an irresistible subject, and readers will find Tasker's richly detailed account entirely satisfactory--until events overtake it in a few years.

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