What do you think?
Rate this book
The Solar System
Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the Outer Solar System
Explores the relationship between the sun and its orbiters, including the planets, asteroids, meteorites, and comets, and introduces the various space missions that helped the scientific community gain a more thorough understanding of the solar system.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published April 28, 2006
About the author
Linda T. Elkins-Tanton
13 books1 followerLinda T. Elkins-Tanton has also published under the name Lindy Elkins-Tanton.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a scientist studying the formation and evolution of rocky planets. She was born and grew up in Ithaca, New York, and now splits her time between Arizona and the quiet hills of western Massachusetts.
Elkins-Tanton is the Principal Investigator of the NASA Psyche mission, ASU Vice President for the Interplanetary Initiative, and co-founder of Beagle Learning, a tech company led by CEO Turner Bohlen, training and measuring problem-solving and critical thinking. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from MIT. She was a researcher at Brown University, faculty at MIT, and a director at the Carnegie Institution for Science before moving to a directorship at Arizona State University. She has led four field expeditions in Siberia. She has been the Astor Fellow at Oxford University, is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and of the American Mineralogical Society, and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Asteroid (8252) Elkins-Tanton is named for her.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton’s research and work lies in three related areas: The physics and chemistry of terrestrial planetary formation and internal evolution, creation of effective interdisciplinary teams for maximizing discovery, and student-centered learning and the reformation of education for the Information Age.
Using models and observations, she and her collaborators have explicated how the evolution of planetesimals (the building blocks of planets) includes partially differentiated and other complex compositional structures, explaining observations from meteorites and asteroids. Her work on the accretion of rocky planets shows that rocky planets everywhere are likely born habitable: Even the magma ocean stages of terrestrial planet formation retained sufficient water to create habitable planets without additional water delivery.
On the Earth, she and her team confirmed that the Siberian flood basalts caused the end-Permian extinction: The magmatism released carbon, sulfur, and halocarbons sufficient to drive catastrophic global climate change, and the flood basalts began with a world-record volume of volcaniclastics, many burning a significant coal volume.
Finally, the Beagle Learning team has shown how the productivity of research questions can be rated using a rubric and scored successfully by artificial intelligence.
She and her family love traveling and discovering the people, animals, and plants of new places. At home she keeps trail cams up to record the nocturnal activity around their houses; in Massachusetts, the cameras record bears, fishers, grey foxes, owls, and more. She’s recently been learning how to identify mosses. On weekends, she and her husband, mathematician and educator James Tanton, hike in the desert, mind their lime and grapefruit trees, and watch the Gambel’s quail.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a scientist studying the formation and evolution of rocky planets. She was born and grew up in Ithaca, New York, and now splits her time between Arizona and the quiet hills of western Massachusetts.
Elkins-Tanton is the Principal Investigator of the NASA Psyche mission, ASU Vice President for the Interplanetary Initiative, and co-founder of Beagle Learning, a tech company led by CEO Turner Bohlen, training and measuring problem-solving and critical thinking. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from MIT. She was a researcher at Brown University, faculty at MIT, and a director at the Carnegie Institution for Science before moving to a directorship at Arizona State University. She has led four field expeditions in Siberia. She has been the Astor Fellow at Oxford University, is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and of the American Mineralogical Society, and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Asteroid (8252) Elkins-Tanton is named for her.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton’s research and work lies in three related areas: The physics and chemistry of terrestrial planetary formation and internal evolution, creation of effective interdisciplinary teams for maximizing discovery, and student-centered learning and the reformation of education for the Information Age.
Using models and observations, she and her collaborators have explicated how the evolution of planetesimals (the building blocks of planets) includes partially differentiated and other complex compositional structures, explaining observations from meteorites and asteroids. Her work on the accretion of rocky planets shows that rocky planets everywhere are likely born habitable: Even the magma ocean stages of terrestrial planet formation retained sufficient water to create habitable planets without additional water delivery.
On the Earth, she and her team confirmed that the Siberian flood basalts caused the end-Permian extinction: The magmatism released carbon, sulfur, and halocarbons sufficient to drive catastrophic global climate change, and the flood basalts began with a world-record volume of volcaniclastics, many burning a significant coal volume.
Finally, the Beagle Learning team has shown how the productivity of research questions can be rated using a rubric and scored successfully by artificial intelligence.
She and her family love traveling and discovering the people, animals, and plants of new places. At home she keeps trail cams up to record the nocturnal activity around their houses; in Massachusetts, the cameras record bears, fishers, grey foxes, owls, and more. She’s recently been learning how to identify mosses. On weekends, she and her husband, mathematician and educator James Tanton, hike in the desert, mind their lime and grapefruit trees, and watch the Gambel’s quail.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 28, 2024
Another great reference from an author who is both deeply knowledgeable and passionate about her subject. Very much like the first book in this series I reviewed about a different part of the solar system - starting with a factual overview, then progressing into the history of discoveries and exploration to greater technical detail.
Highly recommended both for anyone interested in the subject in its own right and for anyone who wants a solid reference for any other purpose.
Highly recommended both for anyone interested in the subject in its own right and for anyone who wants a solid reference for any other purpose.
December 29, 2013
This book describes the celestial bodies described in the title. It is part of a series of books about the solar system. The pretty pictures on the cover led me to think it would be an easy read. However, the author challenges her readers to understand and use basic concepts of physics to increase their knowledge. Having sadly forgotten most of the physics I studied in high school and the sandbox course I took in college, this was pathetically difficult for me despite the fact the author patiently explains the pertinent concepts.
Even with my limitations in comprehension of the larger scientific concepts, the book was interesting. The outer solar system chapters covered material with which I was somehow totally unfamiliar, i.e., the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. Other than Voyager II in the 1980's, which passed by Uranus and Neptune, and the in progress New Horizons which is en route to observe Pluto, there has not been nor is there planned to be space missions to these planets, which is unfortunate.
Even with my limitations in comprehension of the larger scientific concepts, the book was interesting. The outer solar system chapters covered material with which I was somehow totally unfamiliar, i.e., the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. Other than Voyager II in the 1980's, which passed by Uranus and Neptune, and the in progress New Horizons which is en route to observe Pluto, there has not been nor is there planned to be space missions to these planets, which is unfortunate.
August 10, 2016
High-school level of introduction to information about Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, & Kuiper Belt. Useful info, but there was very little which could not also be gleaned from Wikipedia. About as interesting too. Nice collection of color pictures and interesting historical anecdotes. Unfortunately, there were an intolerable number of mislabeled graphics and equations with typos in them. Not what I'd expect from a second edition. Get a new editor!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews