Mirror Earth: The Search for Our Planet's Twin by Michael D. Lemonick

One of the joys of having taken an astrophysics module last year is that I'm now fascinated with the universe.  I've always been a bit interested; but now I know about dark matter, black holes and the inside of stars, I'm completely absorbed. Expect this to be the first of many reviews of non-fiction books with a space theme.

Mirror Earth is about one of the most exciting research topics in astrophysics at the moment, planets that exist beyond our solar system (exoplanets).  It was only in the 1990s that scientists were able to detect such planets, and they've been overturning our expectations about the universe ever since.  Before exoplanets, scientists assumed that planets near their stars must be small and rocky, with large gaseous planets further away (such as Jupiter and Saturn).  But the first exoplanets discovered were many times larger than Jupiter and many times closer to their stars than Mercury is to our sun.  Many have strange orbits and don't behave in the way that we expect planets to at all.  Theoretically, these planets just shouldn't exist.  But they do.

Of course, discovering exoplanets (and there are many known ones now) is only the first step for scientists who hope to find a 'mirror' earth, one that could meet all the conditions for life.  This is really the meat of the book, as Lemonick discusses attempts to isolate and study planets that could possibly be habitable.  He takes a Bill Bryson-like approach of mixing the science with information about the scientists and the process of discovery, and this is largely successful.  I spent the first half of the book in awe of the perseverance and ingenuity of scientists who have been able to identify invisible planets around stars that are mere sparkling dots in the sky.  It's not simply a case of looking into the sky with a telescope, it's about the slightest movement of a star due to the planet's gravity and the tiniest possible blurring.  It's technical stuff.

Things get even more interesting as the discussion moves on to questioning our assumptions about life.  Most of the book and indeed, most of recent scientific history, is taken up with the quest to find planets like our own because scientists have assumed that life can only exist in similar conditions.  But in the final chapter, Lemonick considers other possible planetary systems from the realm of theoretical physics.  It's possible there are carbon-based planets with cores of pure diamond and "diamond continents sloping down to seas of tar."  What kind of life might such a planet harbour?  It seems physicists are questioning their basic ideas about life and I can't wait to see what research comes out of this in the future.

I really enjoyed Mirror Earth, but it wasn't perfect.  Whilst it was interesting to read about the actual scientists and their quests to discover planets (especially their funding issues), some of these sections went on for too long.  Had I not studied astrophysics at an introductory level, I would have struggled to understand the techniques the physicists used, although I could have kept up with the theories and discoveries easily.  But for an "awe and wonder" book, it's hard to beat.  The universe is more strange and diverse than we ever thought, and we're only scratching the surface of all the different possibilities.

Source: From the publisher, via Netgalley
First Published: 2012
Score: 4 out of 5.

Sunday Salon: Balance

I've started my astrophysics module for the Open University and I'm now in my second week of trying to balance teaching with study with hobbies with family with having fun.  It was challenging in the first week, but I think I'm starting to grips with it all now.

The key is being more organised with my time at work.  Teaching is one of those jobs that could fill up every second of your life if you let it as there is always something more you could do.  I'm using my time more smartly at work which has freed up more of my evenings and weekends.  It also feels good to not always be focused on teaching, to have other interests too.

Having said that, studying again has been a bit of a shock!  I've done no study since finishing my postgrad teaching course three years ago and no science since finishing my psychology degree four years ago.  I had not studied physics for 10 years before starting.  I've discovered that my brain is pretty rusty to say the least and I'm having to take it slow, working at my own speed.  I'm following the content matter of the course but it's taking substantial effort.  My brain is starting to adjust to study again so I'm sure it will gradually start to feel like less of a marathon as time goes by.

I am enjoying it though.  There's so much I didn't know about the universe before starting and so many amazing pieces of knowledge I have found out.  It's changing the way I look at the world around me and the way I think of myself.  I'm already starting to wonder which module I should take once I finish this one.

Is anyone else balancing study and work?  If so, any tips for me?

Non-Book: Doing Something For Myself

Ever since Christmas, I've been feeling a bit restless.  Last year I was planning a wedding, the year before that was my first year teaching and the year before that I was training to be a teacher - I've not had any mental space to be restless for a long time!  Whilst we are saving for a deposit on a house, that's quite a slow process and it'll be Christmas at least before it'll be time to start looking at houses.  So I've decided to do something I've been thinking about doing for a while - return to studying.

I'm the kind of person that always needs something to keep their brain busy in order to be happy.  I don't deal well with long periods with nothing to do, and I love a challenge.  My three years of undergraduate study (in psychology) are amongst the happiest of my life so far because I've always enjoyed studying and learning.  So I'm taking the plunge back into it and have signed up with the Open University.  For those not in the UK, it's a distance-learning university that offers a range of courses and options.

The first module I am taking is called Galaxies, Stars and Planets and it's quite a short module only worth 10 credits.  I start at the beginning of May.  I'm not aiming to work towards another degree or indeed have a career change as a scientist, I'm just taking the course because it's something I'm interested in and have always wanted to find out more about.  My next module after that might be in something completely different (I might even choose a literature module or two?).

Here's what I am going to learn about: the sun, planets, stars and their life cycle, galaxies, the origins and future of the universe, exoplanets, the expanding universe, dark matter, dark energy, black holes and astronomy skills.  I'm excited!  I never really appreciated science whilst I was at school but since leaving it I've become a lot more interested in it, physics especially.  It'll be strange completing assignments again but I'm going to give it a good go and hopefully fit it in around my work responsibilities.

I'm excited too because it feels like a positive step for myself and my happiness.  It's nice to do something where the only reason for doing it is because I want to!

If you went back to studying, what would you study?  Is it something you can see yourself doing in the future?