The secret lives of planets : order, chaos, and uniqueness in the solar system Cover Image

Book

The secret lives of planets : order, chaos, and uniqueness in the solar system / Paul Murdin.

Summary:

"We have the impression that the solar system is perfectly regular like a clock, or a planetarium instrument. On a short timescale it is. But, seen in a longer perspective, the planets, and their satellites, have exciting lives, full of events - for example, did you know that Saturn's moon, Titan, boasts lakes which contain liquid methane surrounded by soaring hills and valleys, exactly as the earth did before life evolved on our fragile planet? Or that Mercury is the shyest planet? Or, that Mars' biggest volcano is 100 times the size of Earth's, or that its biggest canyon is 10 times the depth of the Grand Canyon, or that it wasn't always red, but blue? The culmination of a lifetime of astronomy and wonder, Paul Murdin's enchanting new book reveals everything you ever wanted to know about the planets, their satellites, and our place in the solar system."--Publisher's description.

Record details

ISBN: 9781643133362
ISBN: 1643133365
Physical Description: 280 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 22 cm
Edition: First Pegasus Books hardcover edition.
Publisher: New York, New York : Pegasus Books, 2020.
Copyright: ©2019

Content descriptions

General Note:

Includes index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Order, chaos and uniqueness in the solar system -- Mercury : bashed, bashful and eccentric -- Venus : an ugly face behind a pretty veil -- Earth : balanced equanimity -- The Moon : almost dead -- Mars : the warlike planet -- Martian meteorites : chips off the old block -- Ceres : the planet that never grew up -- Jupiter : hard hearted -- The Galilean satellites : siblings of fire, water, ice and stone -- Saturn : lord of the rings -- Titan : animation suspended -- Enceladus : warm hearted -- Uranus : bowled over -- Neptune : the misfit -- Pluto : the outsider who came in from the cold.