Overview

The ultimate insider's account of astronomy's fantastic voyage in search of brave new worlds in faraway galaxies ""Highly recommended."" -Science and Technology ""Full of humor, heartbreak, and a deep understanding of the ardor and luck that compose years of research...The reader becomes not merely a receiver of Boss's vision, but a fellow explorer."" -Astronomy ""A rewarding account."" -Scientific American Are we alone in the universe ...or are there other planets generating and sustaining life? The question may be as old as civilization, but in the twilight of a century marked by countless frustrated quests to find other solar systems, several teams of pioneering astronomers have at last discovered a rich crop of mammoth, Jupiter-sized gas planets -the first compelling evidence that there may indeed be life in other galaxies. In Looking for Earths, a prominent planetary scientist takes us along on this thrilling hunt for new life, revealing the behind-the-scenes stories of scientific determination, frustration, and triumph. Ushering us to the mountaintop observatories that house the world's most powerful telescopes, and into the tension-filled scientific meetings where new results are announced and old results overturned, Alan Boss brings the process of exploration vividly alive. Experience the roller-coaster ride as intricate observations of minuscule stellar wobbles raise hopes that at last a true planet has been found, only to be almost immediately shattered by more powerful observations. Boss also introduces the principal players whose dreams defied all odds and made the first major discovery possible. Like no other book, Looking for Earths captures the lively tension between theory and observation that defines cutting-edge astronomical discovery, along with the heated battles that will determine the direction of big-ticket American astronomy for years to come. ""You will find no better introduction to one of the truly revolutionary developments in modern astronomy.""-Natural History

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...an excellent primer for the discoveries that are to come over the next decade. (Times Higher Educational Supplement, 22nd December 2000)

Astronomers have recently discovered several planets orbiting other stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. None of these planets are 'other Earths' - they are giants, bigger than Jupiter. But if other Jupiters exist, the chances are that other Earths do too. This is the motivation for NASA researcher Boss to take stock of the history of the search for extrasolar planets, and to look at future prospects. The book is timely and full of insider information revealing how the scientists work in a gossipy style, but perhaps a little too premature to fully live up to the promise of its title. One for the science buffs. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

ALAN BOSS is a research scientist and NASA advisor at the prestigious Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., and has long been one of the world's leading figures in the search for extrasolar planets. His gift for clarifying complex scientific issues for a lay audience has led to articles in Scientific American, Nature, and Physics Today. He has also been quoted regularly in front-page articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post, as well as in Time.

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