Distant Wanderers. The Search for Planets Beyond the Solar System
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Author(s): B. Dorminey
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0387950745
Format: hardback
226pp
Price: £21.00, $29.95, €29.95 + VAT
Review Date: 29 January 2002
Review: In the last century technological developments enabled astronomers to expand their observations to cover almost the entire magnetic spectrum. Large-aperture optical telescopes and computer processing have helped in the discovery of planets. Within the next forty years astronomers hope to be able to image and resolve surface details of Earth-like planets from both the ground and space. We now know that our galaxy is one of at least 50 billion and that huge gas giants have been detected orbiting distant stars. Within the next generation we should have the means to detect if there is life on extra-solar planets light years away. This book looks at the technological advances and the methods and discusses what has been discovered and what is likely to be discovered in the future.