Synopses & Reviews
Account of the successful search for planets outside our Solar System.
Review
"...comprehensive and at all times understandable." Nature
Synopsis
With the discovery in 1995 of the first planet orbiting another star, scientists finally confirmed that planets are not unique to our own Solar System. The quest for exoplanets is an exciting one, because it holds the possibility that one day we might find life elsewhere in the Universe, born in the light of another sun. This exciting account is written from the perspective of one of the pioneers of this fascinating scientific adventure.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [246]-248).
About the Author
Michel Mayor is Director of the Observatory of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1995, together with Didier Queloz, he discovered the first extrasolar planet (51 Peg b) around a main sequence star, and has discovered many more since. His work earned him the prestigious Balzan Prize in 2000, for Instrumentation and Techniques in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Pierre-Yves Frei is a science journalist with the Swiss newspaper, Lausanne Hebdo. In 1998 he was awarded the Media Prize of the Swiss Natural Sciences Academy for science popularization.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. The quest begins
2. Infinity and beyond
3. New arrivals in the Solar System
4. Why stars wobble
5. Neutron planets
6. Brown dwarfs in the headlines
7. Sirens in the cosmos
8. Foreign planets different to our home-grown ones
9. Destination: earths!
10. Further yet: life