Planet Hunter

March 1, 2010
Gr 5-7-The profound thrill of searching for (and finding!) planets orbiting stars other than our own is deftly captured in this profile of Geoff Marcy, one of the great hunt's most successful practitioners. Matched to big, sharp color photos of scientists (mostly) at work and compelling speculative views of exotic suns and landscapes, Wittenstein's matter-of-fact narrative first introduces readers to Marcy and his team on the night shift (what else?) at the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea. The author goes on to describe in exact, lucid detail the indirect but ingenious techniques, particularly Doppler spectrometry, that he and other scientists use to locate extrasolar planets, and then to deduce their orbits, compositions, and even internal structures. These are glory days for planet hunters, and this handsomely packaged introduction is just the ticket for turning earthbound (for now) children into budding skywatchers."John Peters, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2010
Grades 6-8 This large-format volume profiles astronomer Marcy and his search for planets in other solar systems. Though he struggled with schoolwork in high school, Marcy persevered and found his calling as a planet hunter, looking for places that might harbor intelligent life. Marcy and a fellow scientist developed a method for detecting such planets and collected data for 10 years; in 1995, they made their first of many discoveries. Bolstered by lengthy sidebars and captions, the text explains the scientific techniques that enable astronomers to locate and study far-distant planets. The last chapter looks forward to the next phase of study, using data from NASAs Kepler Mission, launched in 2009. Clearly reproduced on glossy pages, the many striking illustrations include large, dramatic photos and artists images of objects in space as well as smaller photos of the scientists and diagrams that help explain their work. Lists of books and Internet sites are appended. Though many will find the text challenging, readers motivated to learn about the search for distant planets will enjoy this attractive book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)