Faraway Worlds: Planets Beyond Our Solar System

by Paul Halpern, Lynette R. Cook (Illustrator)

Learn the secrets of planet-hunters as they search for planets beyond our solar system. Is there more to a star than meets the eye?

Take a trip to an alien world and encounter wobbling stars, frozen moons, and boiling oceans. Stunning illustrations and cutting-edge science make this book a first in the field. Includes a glossary and index.

Genres: Science

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Acclaimed science writer and physicist Dr. Paul Halpern is the author of fourteen popular science books, exploring the subjects of space, time, higher dimensions, dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets, particle physics, and cosmology. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, and an Athenaeum Literary Award. A regular contributor to NOVA's "The Nature of Reality" physics blog, he has appeared on numerous radio and television shows including "Future Quest" and "The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special".

Halpern's latest book, "Einstein's Dice and Schrodinger's Cat," investigates how physicists Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrodinger battled together against the incompleteness and indeterminacy of quantum mechanics. Their dialogue inspired Schrodinger's famous thought-experiment about a cat in a box that is in a mixed state between life and death until it is observed. They struggled to find a unified field theory that would unite the forces of nature and supersede quantum weirdness. Sadly they would never find success and their efforts would lead to a fiasco.

More information about Paul Halpern's books and other writings can be found at:
phalpern.com

Reviews

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, simple introduction to extrasolar planets. Nice distinction at the end between art and science.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of space knowledge past our solar system. Goes into known space objects and planets and what scientists know of them. Kids always ask me these questions so it’s great to be able to answer.

[Deanna Sutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book to learn about the planets that have been discovered that are out of our solar system. There are great pictures in the book. The kids kept saying, "There's Tatoine, there's Cloud City. Maybe that's what Degabus looked liked..."