Customer Reviews

Icy Worlds of the Solar System

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This is an recent, well-written, and very readable book about ice in our solar system. Pat Dasch clearly did a fine job as editor.

There is an introduction by Jonathan Lunine. We see the significance of solar system ice as the source of the Earth's water and of life. Robert Bindschadler then has a section on ice on Earth. He explains that Ice is 2 % of the Earth's water. Glaciation began 2.3 billion years ago, when the Earth was half its present age. And there's much more on the nature and history of our planet's ice.

There's clearly no reason to study ice on Venus, so Bryan Butler discusses the potential for finding ice on Mercury and the Moon. He thinks it is likely that ther are significant ice deposits on Mercury in permanently shaded regions in polar craters there. And there may be some on the Moon as well.

Next is a section by Tobias Owen on the role of icy planetesimals and indigenous rocks in providing our Earth with an atmosphere. After that, Michael Mellon discusses the nature of the Martian polar caps. Ice can exist only near the poles on Mars; nearer the equator, it simply sublimates. Paul Schenk then covers the solar system's icy satellites, including the terrain of the Jovian moons. And John Stansberry tells us about Triton, Pluto, and the Kuiper Belt.

The final chapter is by Dale Cruikshank, on comets. As we discover, comets appear to have supplied the Earth with a significant amount of water.

If we humans are going to explore the solar system, the amount of water on these surfaces may be of critical importance to us. In addition, the mechanisms that cause Earth to have as much water as it does may be present in other stellar systems, which could indicate something about the chances of life elsewhere in the Galaxy.

This is an interesting book for laymen and scientists, and I recommend it.