Exoplanets: Worlds beyond Our Solar System

By Karen Latchana Kenney

Until the mid-1990s, scientists only guessed that the universe held exoplanets, or planets beyond our solar system. But using advanced physics and powerful telescopes, scientists have since identified more than three thousand exoplanets. This work has revealed fascinating worlds, including a planet that oozes lavalike fluids and a planet that glows bright pink.

Even more fascinating, scientists think that some exoplanets might contain life. Many orbit in the Goldilocks zone, the region around a star that's not too hot or too cold for liquid water, a key ingredient for life. This book examines exoplanets, the possibilities for life beyond Earth, and the cutting-edge technologies scientists use to learn about distant worlds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512439083

Karen Latchana Kenney

Karen Latchana Kenney was born near the rainforests of Guyana, but moved far north to Minnesota at a young age. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in English and has been writing and editing since. She has worked as an editor at an educational publishing company, but is now a full-time freelance writer and editor in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has written more than 70 books on all kinds of subjects: from arts and crafts to biographies of famous people. Her books have received positive reviews from Booklist, Library Media Connection, and School Library Journal. When she's not busy writing, she loves biking and hiking with her husband and young son in the many beautiful parks of the state. Visit her online at http://latchanakenney.wordpress.com/.

Book preview

Reviews for Exoplanets

[themulhern · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An up-to-date, medium format book, with many illustrations. There is a narrative, the progress of exoplanet identification, which didn't really get started until the mid 90s. Now it seems that a few 1000 exoplanets have been located, but only about 30 that might support life. There are several good takeaways from this book:* There are a variety of ways to spot explanets, most of them not by direct observation.* Some exoplanets have actually been viewed by telescopes.* Many exoplanets that have been discovered do not resemble our solar planets very much at all.* There aren't too many earth-like planets.* A mission to Mars still looks good.But, on the whole, it was not as gripping as I had expected it to be.