"Someday, astronomers knew, their great quest to find alien worlds would finally be fulfilled, and the first planets beyond those of the solar system would at last emerge from hiding, hailing a new era of astronomical discovery." It had not occurred to anyone with even the wildest imagination that these first extrasolar planets would be found in 1991 orbiting a pulsar 1,000 light-years away. Ken Croswell gives a remarkably clear exposition of what we know about planets in our solar system and elsewhere, how they are discovered, what kind of people have looked for them, and the exceptional number of embarrassing mistakes they've made--and how many surprises nature has dished out in a discipline that's still very young.

This lavishly illustrated book chronicles our planetary travels, explains the creation and evolution of each planet, and tells how our understanding of the solar system has developed from the first stargazers in ancient times to the present. A companion volume to a highly regarded eight-part Arts and Entertainment television series, the book draws on space race archives, interviews with scientists and astronauts, and computer graphics to reveal fascinating details about the wonders of the solar system.