The Planet Factory

The hints on the possibility of alien life discussed in an entertaining and serious way.

In “The Planet Factory”, the British astrophysicist Elizabeth Tasker, an associate professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), describes the current state of astronomy of extrasolar planets in an entertaining and accessible way. The author discusses how these planets form, their structure and features, and detection techniques used in their discovery, while looking at what readers can learn about the surface environments and planetary atmospheres. Each result is an invitation for us to question if it hints at the enticing possibility of alien life elsewhere in the cosmos.