Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar: A Guided Tour of the Solar System PDF
Preview Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar: A Guided Tour of the Solar System
Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar Bonnie J. Buratti Frontmatter More Information Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar A Guided Tour of the Solar System JoinBonnieJ.Buratti,aleadingplanetaryastronomer,onthis personaltourofNASA’slatestdiscoveries.MovingthroughtheSolar SystemfromMercury,Venus,Mars,pastcometsandasteroids,and themoonsofthegiantplanets,toPluto,andontoexoplanets,she givesvividdescriptionsoflandformsthataresimilartothosefound onEarthbutthataremorefantastic.Sulfur-richvolcanoesandlakes onIo,activegulliesonMars,hugeiceplumesandtar-likedeposits onthemoonsofSaturn,hydrocarbonriversandlakesonTitan,and nitrogenglaciersonPlutoarejustsomeofthemarvelsthatawait you.Discoverwhatit’sliketobeinvolvedinamajorscientific enterprise,withallitspitfallsandexcitement,fromtheperspective ofafemalescientist.Thisengagingaccountofmodernspace explorationiswrittenfornon-specialistreaders,fromstudentsin highschooltoenthusiastsofallagesbeyond. bonnie j. buratti isaSeniorResearchScientistatNASA’sJet PropulsionLaboratory,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology.With expertiseonicymoons,comets,andasteroids,sheholdsdegrees fromMITandCornellUniversity.Sheiscurrentlyservingonthe CassiniandNewHorizonsscienceteams,andistheUSProject ScientistforRosetta.SheisapastChairoftheDivisionfor PlanetarySciencesoftheAmericanAstronomicalSociety,and advisesNASA.Theauthorofovertwohundredscientificpapers, BurattiwasawardedtheNASAExceptionalAchievementMedaland theInternationalAstronomicalUnionnamedasteroid90502 “Buratti”inrecognitionofherwork. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar Bonnie J. Buratti Frontmatter More Information Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar A Guided Tour of the Solar System bonnie j. buratti JetPropulsionLaboratory, CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar Bonnie J. Buratti Frontmatter More Information UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,NY10006,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,VIC3207,Australia 4843/24,2ndFloor,AnsariRoad,Daryaganj,Delhi-110002,India 79AnsonRoad,#06-04/06,Singapore079906 CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107152748 (cid:2)C BonnieJ.Buratti2017 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2017 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd.PadstowCornwall AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Names:Buratti,BonnieJean,1952– Title:Worldsfantastic,worldsfamiliar/BonnieJ.Buratti,JetPropulsion Laboratory,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology. Description:Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2017.|Includesindex. Identifiers:LCCN2016039242|ISBN9781107152748 Subjects:LCSH:Astrogeology–Popularworks.|Planetaryscience–Popular works.|Solarsystem–Popularworks. Classification:LCCQB454.B87 2017|DDC559.9–dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2016039242 ISBN978-1-107-15274-8Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracy ofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar Bonnie J. Buratti Frontmatter More Information Thisbookisdedicatedtomyparents RalphJuliusBuratti(1920–2008) HildegardeMahalaSinglesBuratti(b.1922) © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar Bonnie J. Buratti Frontmatter More Information Contents Acknowledgments pageix Introduction 1 1 Mercury:TheHottestLittlePlace 6 2 Venus:AnEvenHotterPlace 26 3 Mars:TheAbodeofLife? 47 4 AsteroidsandComets:SweattheSmallStuff 73 5 Galileo’sTreasures:WorldsofFireandIce 96 6 Enceladus:AnActiveIceballinSpace 118 7 Titan:AnEarthinDeepFreeze? 137 8 IapetusanditsFriends:TheWeirdest“Planets”inthe SolarSystem 160 9 Pluto:TheFirstViewofthe“ThirdZone” 181 10 EarthsAbove:TheSearchforExoplanetsandLifein theUniverse 205 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar Bonnie J. Buratti Frontmatter More Information viii contents Epilogue 224 Glossary 229 Index 233 Colorplatessectioncanbefoundbetweenpages118and119. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar Bonnie J. Buratti Frontmatter More Information Acknowledgments I owe the most gratitude to those who have taught me important life lessons. My parents Ralph and Hildegarde Buratti were people who set an example by doing rather than by saying. My graduate schooladvisor,ProfessorJosephVeverka,taughtmethatifit’sworth doing, it’s worth doing well. If it’s not worth doing, don’t even get started. I am grateful for the scientific colleagues and other friends who have stood by me throughout the years. Special mention goes to my fellow students at Cornell, Julio Magalhaes, Steve Lee, Jay Goguen,thelateWilliamReidThompson,thelateDamonSimonelli, and Peter Thomas. We share a bond like siblinghood. My other best friends, Lisa Nuchtern, Ruth Several, Marilyn Andrews, and Sally Swigart,andmyrealsiblings,BruceBurattiandBrendaBuratti,were alwaystherenomatterwhat. My editors at Cambridge University Press, Vince Higgs, Philippa Cole, and Lucy Edwards, provided just the right amount of proddingwhenotherobligationsbecameoverwhelming.Iwasfortu- natetohavegenerouscolleagueswhoreviewedchaptersofthebook: Don Yeomans, Rosaly Lopes, Anne Verbsicer, Jason Hofgartner, and Linda Morabito Kelly. The remaining errors are all mine of course. For interviews I thank Linda and Anne, as well as Tim Parker and KennethLawrenceatNASA’sJetPropulsionLaboratory(JPL). Theloveandsupportofmyfamilyhasbeenenduringanduncon- ditional. My three wonderful boys (men now), Nathan, Reuben, and AaronBurattiLam,allaccomplishedintheirownright,tookthetime to read early manuscripts and to offer suggestions. Aaron helped in the production of the manuscript at the very end. But foremost is my husband, Kai S. Lam, who set the example with his own “butt in chair” philosophy of writing, and continually encouraged me to © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar Bonnie J. Buratti Frontmatter More Information x acknowledgments “just write.” He also provided the scientific honesty and measured perspectivetotonedownpassagesthatsometimesveeredoff. And of course I am indebted to NASA and JPL, where unbri- dledcuriosityandsuperbleadershiparemanifestinthemissionsand researchinwhichIhavebeensoprivilegedtoparticipate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Introduction Writingsofthegreatthinkersaboundwithwordsexpressingthegreat hold of astronomy. Plato said “astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.” When William Herschel (1738–1822) – the father of modern observational astronomy–receivedtheRoyalSociety’sCopleyMedalin1781,the Society President and naturalist Joseph Banks, stated that “the trea- sures of heaven are well-known to be inexhaustible.” Astronomers themselves have spoken of their unquenchable curiosity and their drive and persistence to slake that curiosity. German astronomer Johann Schroeter (1745–1816) spoke of the “impulse to observe,” whileanotherastronomersaidthepurposeofexistenceistoobserve. When Herschel was once asked why he had become an astronomer (withtheimplication–familiareventoday–thatalifeofobserving is impractical, even useless) he simply said that when he looked up andsawthebeautyandwonderoftheskieshedidn’tunderstandwhy everyonewasn’tanastronomer. Butthenthereisthecounterpointinthepublicmind,captured in Walt Whitman’s (1819–1892) poem “When I Heard the Learned Astronomer”: WhenIheardthelearn’dastronomer, Whentheproofs,thefigures,wererangedincolumnsbeforeme, WhenIwasshownthechartsandthediagrams,toadd,divide,and measurethem, WhenI,sitting,heardtheastronomer,wherehelecturedwith muchapplauseinthelecture-room, Howsoon,unaccountable,Ibecametiredandsick, Tillrisingandglidingout,Iwander’doffbymyself, 23:38:44, subject to the Cambridge Core .001 2 worlds fantastic, worlds familiar Inthemysticalmoistnight-air,andfromtimetotime, Look’dupinperfectsilenceatthestars. Thecalculatingastronomermissestheessenceofthething.Asbril- liantashewas,Whitmanwaswrongonthisone.Mostnon-scientists think science is dry, fact-based, memorization – exact, or impene- trable. It is none of those things. Science is an endeavor of creative thoughtandactivity,anditaffectsoureverydayworldbypavingthe wayfortechnologicalinventionsandbyprovidingthegroundworkfor everything from weather forecasting to curing cancer. In its highest formitisnodifferentfrompoetry.Toseeforthefirsttimeanaspectof natureisthesameascraftingagroupofwordsthatspeakadeeptruth that every sensitive person can relate to, but perhaps can’t put into words. The ancient Greeks accepted the profound status of Astron- omybydeemingitoneofthefourquadrivia,areasofknowledgethat formthebasisofwisdom(theothersareArithmetic,Geometry,and Music).Astronomymaybethemostempiricalofthesefoursubjects, but the driving force behind it is part of the abstract invisible world that is the wellspring of human activity, the same drive that gives rise to great literature, music, art, and some might even argue the spiritualimpulse. HowoftenIhaveheardfromnon-scientists,wheneverIspecu- late a bit on anything: “You’re a scientist, you know you have to be sureofeverythingandhaveabsoluteproof.”Scienceisn’tlikethat– it’sbasedonhunchesandwhatisn’timmediatelyevidentinthedata before you. It is propelled by speculation, leaps of faith, doubt, and disagreement.Andevenwhenwethinkwearesure,paradigmscome tumblingdown.IngraduateschoolIlearnedlifearoseinshallowseas ontheearlyEarth:moleculeswerezappedbylightningandsunlight, which in turn formed amino acids from which life somehow arose. Nobel chemist Harold Urey and his graduate student Stanley Miller had performed a series of key experiments in the 1950s that formed thefoundationforthisidea.AfewshortyearsafterIcompletedgrad- uate school, that paradigm had been completely turned around: the 23:38:44, subject to the Cambridge Core .001
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