So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere out in space,
‘Cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth!*
When I was a boy, eight planets – including the one upon which we all live – were known to exist, and only one was known to harbor life. Since that time, a few more, thousands to be a bit more accurate, have been discovered; and in their myriad, marvelous diversity, there may in fact be at least a few that have, do, or one day will also be home to other life forms.
In his new book Twenty Worlds; the Extraordinary Story of Planets Around Other Stars, astronomer Dr. Niall Deacon takes his readers on a tour of twenty of these, from “giant, blisteringly hot planets orbiting close to their parent stars to planets that float through the cold wilderness of space alone, and from dead stars shredding asteroids to worlds made of diamond” as well as even a few that share similarities to our own.
It’s a prospect that makes me both look up in wonder as well as in hope, which is exactly how I plan to read this new book: in wonder and with hope.
*Credit for the above quoted passage from the Galaxy Song is given to songwriters John Du Prez and Eric Idle, © Universal Music Publishing Group
