Starred review from November 15, 2023
A leading astronomer blends knowledge and enthusiasm to show how the universe is slowly being revealed. This book is an excursion that turns the esoteric field of stellar cartography into an engaging and entertaining story. Kaltenegger, the director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell, has a knack for starting with a few simple principles and then adding layers of increasing complexity. She believes the discipline of astronomy is at a turning point, mainly due to the new NASA James Webb Space Telescope, which has provided a new level of stargazing clarity and distance. The revolutionary telescope has led to new ways "to explore the universe around us by reading the message encoded in light," a process that Kaltenegger explains in jargon-free terms. Information gleaned from spacecraft travel has also been valuable. Scientists have discovered a host of exoplanets, and the author looks at a handful that could harbor some form of life. She also examines possibilities in our own solar system, with Mars and the moons Titan, Europa, and Enceladus being contenders in the search for organisms--although they would probably be microbial. Kaltenegger clearly loves her subject and often injects flashes of dry wit and personal experience. She devotes a chapter to planets that have appeared in science fiction, having some fun with probabilities and impossibilities. She likes to think that there's intelligent life somewhere out there, but she admits that the hunt has yet to yield positive results. Regardless, humanity has so far barely scratched the surface of the galaxy. A bonus of the book is an appendix of websites offering further information and even the opportunity for citizen scientists to propose names for new exoplanets. Kaltenegger's exploration of nearby and faraway space is absorbing, informative, and entertaining.

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Starred review from February 19, 2024
Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute to Search for Life in the Cosmos at Cornell University, debuts with a stellar exploration of how she and other astronomers are searching for extraterrestrial life. “Signs of life are written in a planet’s light—if you know how to read it,” Kaltenegger writes, explaining that because “the electrons of different atoms absorb specific colors of light,” scientists can discern the chemical composition of the air light has passed through by examining what wavelengths have or haven’t been absorbed. These interactions create a “barcode” or “light fingerprint,” Kaltenegger notes, recounting how she’s made lava strips and grown microorganisms in her lab so she can study their light signatures and be able to recognize them if scientists spot similar ones in space. Highlighting discoveries that changed astronomers’ understanding of alien life, Kaltenegger points out that in 2020 a space telescope found a gas giant orbiting a dead star, raising the possibility that planets, and any life-forms they contain, may be able to “survive the demise of their stars.” The breezy prose makes the sophisticated science accessible, and armchair astronomers will be entranced by the descriptions of remarkable exoplanets, including one “so hot that rocks melt, evaporate, then rain down again.” Readers will be riveted. Agent: Deirdre Mullane, Mullane Literary.

March 1, 2024

If there is life on other planets, what might it look like and what are the odds of humanity discovering it? These are the type of questions that astronomer Kaltenegger (director, Carl Sagan Institute To Search for Life in the Cosmos, Cornell Univ.) asks in this book. Eloquent prose enhances the stories of her travels, her studies, and the places and experiences that formed her as a scientist. She leads readers to ask the right questions for themselves and to realize that, as appealing as the future depicted in Star Trek might be, it is unlikely to become a reality, due to the constraints of physics. Still, readers will enjoy this journey through the imaginings and realities of space exploration and discovery. Kaltenegger teaches readers to think of planets both in and outside of the solar system in a different light. As a delightful bonus, the notes at the end of the book include the playlist of the golden record that is onboard the Voyager spacecraft. VERDICT Science and space enthusiasts will revel in this journey through the cosmos. They will undoubtedly learn novel information along the way.--Jennifer Moore

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Starred review from February 15, 2024
This exquisite book is for all who have peered into the night sky pondering the mysteries of the universe and imagining the possibilities from our vantage point across vast, incomprehensible distances. Kaltenegger, an associate Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University, takes readers on a mind-bending journey 13 billion years in the making that begins and ends right here on the "Pale Blue Dot," our home, Earth. Investigating the origin and marvels of life, Kaltenegger recounts her laboratory experiments, noting that even with the perfect mix of compounds and elements, liquid water, and a location in a habitable zone, neither planetary nor lunar life are guaranteed. Adding the expanse of time leads additional complications to arise. For example, for much of its history, Earth was inhospitable. These complexities make searching for life elsewhere extremely difficult. Yet Kaltenegger details how, with microlensing, infrared telescopes, and other ingenious techniques and technologies, astronomers are rapidly discovering exoplanets--over 5,000 and counting--far from our solar system. Based on chemical signatures of light and other factors, it is estimated that a small percentage of these could host life as we know it. Kaltenegger explores alluring systems like Trappist-1, with seven known planets, three in the star's habitable zone, suggesting that humanity may be closer than ever to making the most groundbreaking discovery of all: that we are not alone.

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