The 'Life in the Solar System and Beyond', Professor Jones has written a broad introduction to the subject, addressing important topics such as, what is life?, the origins of life and where to look for extraterrestrial life. The chapters are arranged as follows. Chapter 1 is a broad introduction to the cosmos, with an emphasis on where we might find life. In Chapters 2 and 3 Professor Jones discusses life on Earth, the one place we know to be inhabited. Chapter 4 is a brief tour of the Solar system, leading us in Chapters 5 and 6 to two promising potential habitats, Mars and Europa. In Chapter 7 the author discusses the fate of life in the Solar system, which gives us extra reason to consider life further afield. Chapter 8 focuses on the types of stars that might host habitable planets, and where in the Galaxy these might be concentrated. Chapters 9 and 10 describe the instruments and techniques being employed to discover planets around other stars (exoplanetary systems), and those that will be employed in the near future. Chapter 11 summarises the known exoplanetary systems, together with an outline of the systems we expect to discover soon, particularly habitable planets. Chapter 12 describes how we will attempt to find life on these planets, and the final chapter brings us to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the question as to whether we are alone.

Addresses the important question of what is life, and discusses the origins and evolution of life on Earth, as well as its probable fate Looks at places within our Solar System, beyond Earth, where life might exist, such as Mars and Europa Includes the very latest data on searches for planets around other stars, the results of these searches, and discusses what conditions might be like Speculates on possible life elsewhere in the Universe beyond our Solar system, and assesses our chances of making contact, if there is intelligent life out there Includes end of chapter summaries to help the reader grasp the main concepts to carry forward Provides a list of resources, including useful websites at the end of the book which will enable the reader to keep up to date in this rapidly moving field Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext
The 'Life in the Solar System and Beyond', Professor Jones has written a broad introduction to the subject, addressing important topics such as, what is life?, the origins of life and where to look for extraterrestrial life.
The chapters are arranged as follows. Chapter 1 is a broad introduction to the cosmos, with an emphasis on where we might find life. In Chapters 2 and 3 Professor Jones discusses life on Earth, the one place we know to be inhabited. Chapter 4 is a brief tour of the Solar system, leading us in Chapters 5 and 6 to two promising potential habitats, Mars and Europa. In Chapter 7 the author discusses the fate of life in the Solar system, which gives us extra reason to consider life further afield. Chapter 8 focuses on the types of stars that might host habitable planets, and where in the Galaxy these might be concentrated. Chapters 9 and 10 describe the instruments and techniques being employed to discover planets around other stars (exoplanetary systems), and those that will be employed in the near future. Chapter 11 summarises the known exoplanetary systems, together with an outline of the systems we expect to discover soon, particularly habitable planets. Chapter 12 describes how we will attempt to find life on these planets, and the final chapter brings us to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the question as to whether we are alone.

Inhalt
1 The cosmos.- 2 Life on Earth.- 3 The evolution and origin of life on Earth.- 4 Where to look for life elsewhere in the Solar System.- 5 Life on Mars?.- 6 Life on Europa?.- 7 The fate of life in the Solar System.- 8 Potential habitats beyond the Solar System.- 9 Searching for planets: direct methods.- 10 Searching for planets: indirect methods.- 11 Exoplanetary systems.- 12 How to find life on exoplanets.- 13 Extraterrestrial intelligence.- Answers to questions.- Resources.