The Planet Factory: Exoplanets And the Search for a Second Earth

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 “[planet’s] 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. (Nov.)