The New Solar System: Ice Worlds, Moons, and Planets Redefined [Hardcover]

Patricia Daniels (Author), Robert Burnham (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1426204620 | ISBN-13: 978-1426204623 | Publication Date: August 18, 2009

Aimed at the popular audience by experienced astronomy author Patricia Daniels with contributions by former editor of Astronomy magazine Robert Burnham and highlighted by 160 photographs, diagrams and maps, this superb guide explores every corner of Earth’s planetary neighborhood, from the fiery sun at its center to the dark, icy realm where interstellar space begins. It’s a state-of-the-art observation of the solar system as we know it today and a knowledgeable forecast of what to expect in the future, from Pluto’s demotion to plutoid to the upcoming Moon mission, the likelihood of a manned expedition to Mars, and much more.

From breathtaking full-color photographs to detailed explanatory diagrams to expert essays, fascinating sidebars, and informative fact boxes, the New Solar System is not just an easy-to-use, solidly reliable reference, but also a visually stunning, invitingly browsable volume guaranteed to fire the imagination of even the most casual reader.

As we celebrate NASA’s first half-century and look outward to exciting new possibilities, public interest in all things interplanetary will only grow more intense—and this wonderfully timely book is poised to launch us once more into the High Frontier.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Patricia Daniels has written extensively on history and science, including National Geographic Pocket Guide to the Constellations and National Geographic Encyclopedia of Space.

Robert Burnham is a science writer at the Mars Space Flight Facility of Arizona State University. He is the author of Great Comets and the Reader’s Digest Children’s Atlas of the Universe.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Top Ten New Solar System Stories
From the new National Geographic book, The New Solar System: Ice Worlds, Moons, and Planets Redefined

1.Good-bye, Pluto
Pluto’s demotion to dwarf planet leaves the solar system with eight major worlds.

2.Hello, dwarf planets
Haumea, Makemake, Eris, and other newly christened dwarf planets expand the solar system family.

3.Water on Mars
The case for life on Mars gets a boost when a flotilla of spacecraft finds not only ice, but evidence of ancient rivers and floods on the red planet.

4.Target: Earth
A large asteroid or comet will strike the Earth: The question is simply “when?” Recently established Near-Earth Asteroid programs are scrambling to find out.

5.Ocean moons
Far from being icy rocks, some big moons of the outer solar system are proving to contain subsurface saltwater oceans, potential havens for life.

6.Titan’s mysteries unveiled
For the first time, a probe has descended through the thick atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, exposing a world of methane lakes and hydrocarbon dunes.

7.The new frontier
Cutting-edge telescopes have finally seen into the solar system’s third frontier: the Kuiper belt and beyond, filled with peculiar worlds.

8.Closing in on another Earth
No, we’re not alone. Hundreds of planets have been found circling other stars, and we’re closing in on finding one in the crucial “habitable zone.”

9.Life from comets?
The notion that comets brought life to Earth, once scorned, has gained new ground with the discovery of organic chemicals on Halley and other comets.

10.The heat-death of the Earth
The sun, as it turns out, gets just a little brighter each year. This cheerful finding means Earth will become an uninhabitable desert long before the sun dies–unless we manage to move it.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (August 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1426204620
• ISBN-13: 978-1426204623
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A popular, up-to-date look at the solar system, May 31, 2010

By 

Daniel L Edelen (Mt. Orab, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The New Solar System: Ice Worlds, Moons, and Planets Redefined (Hardcover)

Having been raised on Time-Life Books' _The Planets_, it was a pleasant surprise to find a worthy successor to the astronomy text I loved as a child.

And there is much to like in National Geographic's _The New Solar System_:

* For the masses of nonscientists, yet retaining facts and educational merit
* Great attention to photos, illustrations, and graphic layout, counterbalanced by text that is easy to read and process
* Up to date, featuring the latest info on space exploration and new discoveries within our solar system and just beyond
* A methodical outline of the journey from sun to Oort Cloud that never lags for interest
* A long chapter devoted to plutoids and Kuiper Belt objects
* An excellent overview of changing theories within astronomy and why the field is still in flux
* A fine cultivation of the sense of mystery and awe that confront modern astronomers and cosmologists
* Countless interesting facts about how astronomers make new discoveries
* Short biographic sidebars on astronomers whose names may not be household but who made significant contributions to the field

The only flaw, and it's a small one, is that the author occasionally "breaks the plane" through clichéd or overly familiar wordings.

_The New Solar System_ is the kind of popular science book that any family would be blessed to own. At this price, it's a tremendous value and will bring joy for years to come.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks to the reader who said he'd tried voting for this review but accidentally voted against it, June 28, 2010

By 

Steve Reina (Troy Michigan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The New Solar System: Ice Worlds, Moons, and Planets Redefined (Hardcover)

Great for the coffee table, great for kids and just as great for reflection and thought!

Yes, you won't find any cutting edge data or new theories here but that doesn't matter. With the 160 photos showing every step between here and the edge of the solar system, this is a book where the picture -- litterally -- tells the story.

And what a story it is...

It's hard to believe that we've only had space flight for the past fifty years to think that now we can say we've dispatched exploratory craft throughout the inner planets of the solar system and we've managed a landing as far out as Titan...the largest moon of Saturn.

Though you can read this book sequentially, I think it's one of those ones best left for "grazing" where you attack the chapters by order of interest.

Visit the Moon this week. Next week go to Jupiter.

In ending inserts the book even speculates on extra solar planets and life outside the solar system. Interestingly enough, the two fields are actually related.

As covered in this book, there's an excellent equation developed by astromer Frank Drake back in the early 1960s which attempted to quantify the ubiquity of life in the universe. As a series of questions it asked how many suns were out there, how many would have planets like our Earth, how many of those planets would give rise to life and of those how many would see intelligent life and how long would those intelligent civilizations last.

In that last particular, we here on Earth are running an experiment. The longer humanity can endure against its own ingnorance the better prospects are finding intelligent life elsewhere.

This is a great book, highly recommended and a work that litterally makes you see the sky in whole new way.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Basic Overview of Current Solar System Information, October 27, 2011

By 

TBecker - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The New Solar System: Ice Worlds, Moons, and Planets Redefined (Hardcover)

While Patricia Daniels' summary of recent solar system data is neither perfect nor incredibly detailed, which may irk some physicists and astronomers, for the educated layman, it is still one of the best overviews among the current crop of similar publications. There is a considerable amount of information to consider and she does so in a well-organized, easy-to-understand fashion that includes good artwork and some excellent photographs. The author runs through the creation of the solar system, has a pretty good section on the sun, then deals with the inner terrestrial planets, including the Moon, discusses the asteroid belt, then moves to the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), their largest moons, the "ice giants" (Uranus and Neptune) and their major moons, and finally covers the so-called "plutoids" before rounding out the discussion with interesting sections on the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud before concluding with exoplanets and similar considerations. A table at the end of the book summarizes the salient info, which may prove handy for quick reference. While detailed information is somewhat lacking, making one yearn for a more in-depth analysis of several of the subjects that are raised, one can certainly use this book to easily reference the fundamental information currently available.
That said, there are some "mistakes" in the book (for instance, the author often refers to "Kelvins" rather than degrees Kelvin) and there is a reference to the hypothesis of anthropogenic climate change which I find inappropriate in the context of such a large-scale, physical discussion of the solar system. I also don't appreciate references to producers of relatively recent sci-fi movies or her touting the memory of Carl Sagan while neglecting such classic works as Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles or some of the books by Isaac Asimov. Such minor matters aside, however, this offering from National Geographic holds up well, especially when compared to even more recent summaries of solar system and space info that are fat, glitzy, expensive, and really not significantly better. Of course, it shouldn't be the only book you have on the subject, but there is little doubt you will find this one useful to reference again and again.
After his retirement from the Aerospace industry, my father (a nuclear and space physicist) worked doggedly for twenty years on a detailed compendium of similar subject matter. Unfortunately, he was never completely satisfied with the job he was doing and he died before he could finish the task. Keeping that in mind, while Daniels' book won't compare to an in-depth analysis written by an accomplished scientist in the field, it is nevertheless a pretty good effort and the author should be commended for it.