Distant Wanderers by Bruce Dorminey, Copernicus, $29.95, ISBN 0387950745
IN his timely book, Distant Wanderers, Bruce Dorminey, an award-winning aerospace journalist, takes us on a world tour to meet the astronomers undertaking one of the most fascinating searches of all time: for planets around other suns. The vivid descriptions of their observing vigils in isolated observatories help to give a real sense of discoveries in the making. Much of the story of how this seemingly impossible task has been achieved is in the words of the astronomers.
As yet, we cannot observe these extrasolar planets directly as the light reflected by them is lost in the glare of their sun. Astronomers have to infer their presence by, for example, the small effects the gravitational pull of an extrasolar planet has on the motion of its star through space.
Advertisement
Dorminey makes a valiant effort to explain these, often complex, techniques in terms a generalist can understand. In this he is largely successful. Occasionally, however, his lack of a science background shows, leading to a few errors. For example, an 8.2-metre telescope cannot 鈥渙bserve a source with a resolution 4 billion times that of the human eye鈥�. Ignoring the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere, it is nearer to 2000 times. He should have asked an astrophysicist to take a swift look before he published.
Nevertheless, this book is a highly worthwhile read and will enable you to appreciate what lies behind each discovery and its significance to our own future.