Catching Stardust: Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System

An up-close and personal look at comets and how we can use these ancient voyagers to understand our place in the solar system.

Icy, rocky, sometimes dusty, always mysterious--comets and asteroids are among the Solar System's very oldest inhabitants, formed within a swirling cloud of gas and dust in the area of space that eventually hosted the Sun and its planets. Locked within each of these extra-terrestrial objects is the 4.6-billion-year wisdom of Solar System events, and by studying them at close quarters using spacecraft we can coerce them into revealing their closely-guarded secrets. This offers us the chance to answer some fundamental questions about our planet and its inhabitants.

Exploring comets and asteroids also allows us to shape the story of Earth's future, enabling us to protect our precious planet from the threat of a catastrophic impact from space, and maybe to even recover valuable raw materials from them. This cosmic bounty could be as useful in space as it is on Earth, providing the necessary fuel and supplies for humans as they voyage into deep space to explore more distant locations within the Solar System.

Catching Stardust tells the story of these enigmatic celestial objects, revealing how scientists are using them to help understand a crucial time in our history - the birth of the Solar System, and everything contained within it.

Author: Natalie Starkey
Publisher: Bloomsbury SIGMA
Published: 06/05/2018
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.70h x 5.60w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781472944009


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/30/2018
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/0001
Choice 12/01/2018

About the Author

Natalie Starkey has been actively involved in space science research for more than 10 years. Following a Ph.D. in Geochemistry at the University of Edinburgh, Natalie moved to the Open University, where her research focused on laboratory analysis of cometary and asteroid rock samples. This allowed her the opportunity to be involved in sample-return space missions, such as NASA Stardust and JAXA Hayabusa, and she was invited to be a co-investigator on one of the instrument teams for the groundbreaking ESA Rosetta comet mission.

Now living in California, Natalie regularly appears on television and radio internationally. She has written articles for The Guardian, where she undertook a British Science Association Media Fellowship, and she regularly contributes to The Conversation website. In 2014 she received a SEPnet award for Public Engagement in the Media and Communications category.

@starkeystardust / nataliestarkey.com


This title is only available via back order