The Planet Factory · Exoplanets and the Search for a Second Earth by Tasker, Elizabeth -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Half-Title Series Title Dedication Contents Preface Introduction: The Blind Planet Hunters

The star speed gun The silhouette of Venus

PART 1: The Factory Floor

1 The Factory Floor

The planet-forming disc

2 The Record-breaking Building Project

The glue stick Gravity: the power tool

3 The Problem with Gas

The giants of gas Building distant planets

4 Air and Sea

A second atmosphere The mystery of water Wet Earth Dry Earth

PART 2: Dangerous Planets

5 The Impossible Planet

The problem with Mars The planet with the density of polystyrene

6 We Are Not Normal

Chthonian planets Building local The planet broom The dead zone trap A migrating population An unresolved mystery

7 Water, Diamonds or Lava? The Planet Recipe Nobody Knew

Rocky recipes Explosive discoveries Lava worlds White planet The planet without air

8 Worlds Around Dead Stars

The very first exoplanet Salamander planets Memnonides planets The star that became a planet

9 The Lands of Two Suns

The planet that bent light Our nearest binary Searching for Tatooine Methuselah The stars with one body Cousins Worlds of many suns

10 The Planetary Crime Scene

Tomorrow’s forecast will be 1,000°C (1,800°F) hotter than today’s Planetary bumper cars

11 Going Rogue

PART 3: Goldilocks Worlds

12 The Goldilocks Criteria 13 The Search for Another Earth 14 Alien Vistas

Water worlds A gas giant core The twilight zone Return to Tatooine The best of all possible worlds?

15 Beyond the Goldilocks Zone

The tiny, shiny moon The moon with liquid lakes

16 The Moon Factory

Searching for Endor

17 The Search for Life

‘Strongly suggestive’ Green bump, red edge

Glossary Further Reading Acknowledgements Index Copyright