Exoplanets: Finding, Exploring, and Understanding Alien Worlds probes
the basis for possible answers to the fundamentals questions asked about
these planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. This book examines what
such planets might be like, where they are, and how we find them.
Until around ten years ago, the only planets that we knew about were
within the Solar System. The first genuine planet beyond the confines of
the Solar System was discovered only 1988. Since then another 350 or so
exoplanets have been detected by various methods, and most of these
haven been found in the last ten years. Although many more exoplanets
discoveries may be expected to occur even as this book is being read, a
large enough data set is now available to form the basis for an informed
general account of exoplanets.
The topic hence is an extremely "hot" one - all the more so because the
recently launched Kepler spacecraft should soon start uncovering many
more exoplanets, some perhaps comparable with the Earth (and therefore
possibly alternative homes for mankind, if we could ever reach them).
Exoplanets: Finding, Exploring, and Understanding Alien Life gives a
comprehensive, balances, and above all accurate account of exoplanets.