Daydreaming in the Solar System

A thrilling journey through the solar system that merges imagination with hard science. Imagine traveling to the far reaches of the solar system, pausing for close-up encounters with distant planets, moons, asteroids, and comets, accompanied by a congenial guide to the science behind what you see. What, for instance, would it be like to fly in Titan's hazy atmosphere? To walk across the surface of Mercury? To feel the rumble of a volcano brewing on one of Jupiter's largest moons? In Daydreaming in the Solar System, John Moores and Jesse Rogerson bring that dream to virtual life. Through a combination of story and science they let readers know what such an otherworldly experience would actually look, feel, and even taste like. With data gathered over the decades by our robotic spacecraft, and with Michelle Parsons's evocative illustrations, Moores and Rogerson boldly take you where no living being has gone before, along the way giving an engaging and accurate explanation of the science. Where Carl Sagan's storied “spaceship of the imagination” provided a window to outer space, Daydreaming in the Solar System opens a door, inviting readers to step through and truly explore the strange new worlds of the solar system. Undertaking this interplanetary journey powered by hard science, there is no limit to where your daydreams can take you.

John Moores is the York Research Chair in Space Exploration at York University. He is an author of nearly 100 academic papers in planetary science and has been a member of the science and operations teams of several space missions, including the Curiosity Rover Mission. Jesse Rogerson is Assistant Professor at York University. He has over 15 years working in some of Canada's premier museums and science centres, including the Ontario Science Centre and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.

Foreword Preface 1 Golfing on the Far Side of the Moon 2 Rappelling into Valles Marineras on Mars 3 Beneath the Europan Ice 4 Trekking Mercury's Crest of Dawn 5 Prospecting on Venus' Surface 6 Surfing Saturn's Rings 7 Sailing the Titanian Sea 8 Around the World in Eighty Hours 9 A Year Shipwrecked on a Comet 10 Of Roses and Baobabs on Bennu 11 Skydiving in Jupiter's Vast Atmosphere 12 Watching the Martian Clouds Scoot By 13 Spelunking on Hyperion 14 Caffeinated Flight on Titan 15 Pluto, the Edge of the Map Epilogue: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations Acknowledgments Afterword Notes Index