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978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar
Bonnie J. Buratti
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Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar
A Guided Tour of the Solar System
JoinBonnieJ.Buratti,aleadingplanetaryastronomer,onthis
personaltourofNASA’slatestdiscoveries.MovingthroughtheSolar
SystemfromMercury,Venus,Mars,pastcometsandasteroids,and
themoonsofthegiantplanets,toPluto,andontoexoplanets,she
givesvividdescriptionsoflandformsthataresimilartothosefound
onEarthbutthataremorefantastic.Sulfur-richvolcanoesandlakes
onIo,activegulliesonMars,hugeiceplumesandtar-likedeposits
onthemoonsofSaturn,hydrocarbonriversandlakesonTitan,and
nitrogenglaciersonPlutoarejustsomeofthemarvelsthatawait
you.Discoverwhatit’sliketobeinvolvedinamajorscientific
enterprise,withallitspitfallsandexcitement,fromtheperspective
ofafemalescientist.Thisengagingaccountofmodernspace
explorationiswrittenfornon-specialistreaders,fromstudentsin
highschooltoenthusiastsofallagesbeyond.
bonnie j. buratti isaSeniorResearchScientistatNASA’sJet
PropulsionLaboratory,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology.With
expertiseonicymoons,comets,andasteroids,sheholdsdegrees
fromMITandCornellUniversity.Sheiscurrentlyservingonthe
CassiniandNewHorizonsscienceteams,andistheUSProject
ScientistforRosetta.SheisapastChairoftheDivisionfor
PlanetarySciencesoftheAmericanAstronomicalSociety,and
advisesNASA.Theauthorofovertwohundredscientificpapers,
BurattiwasawardedtheNASAExceptionalAchievementMedaland
theInternationalAstronomicalUnionnamedasteroid90502
“Buratti”inrecognitionofherwork.
© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
Cambridge University Press
978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar
Bonnie J. Buratti
Frontmatter
More Information
Worlds Fantastic,
Worlds Familiar
A Guided Tour of the Solar System
bonnie j. buratti
JetPropulsionLaboratory,
CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology
© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
Cambridge University Press
978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar
Bonnie J. Buratti
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Cambridge University Press
978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar
Bonnie J. Buratti
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Thisbookisdedicatedtomyparents
RalphJuliusBuratti(1920–2008)
HildegardeMahalaSinglesBuratti(b.1922)
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Cambridge University Press
978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar
Bonnie J. Buratti
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Contents
Acknowledgments pageix
Introduction 1
1 Mercury:TheHottestLittlePlace 6
2 Venus:AnEvenHotterPlace 26
3 Mars:TheAbodeofLife? 47
4 AsteroidsandComets:SweattheSmallStuff 73
5 Galileo’sTreasures:WorldsofFireandIce 96
6 Enceladus:AnActiveIceballinSpace 118
7 Titan:AnEarthinDeepFreeze? 137
8 IapetusanditsFriends:TheWeirdest“Planets”inthe
SolarSystem 160
9 Pluto:TheFirstViewofthe“ThirdZone” 181
10 EarthsAbove:TheSearchforExoplanetsandLifein
theUniverse 205
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978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar
Bonnie J. Buratti
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viii contents
Epilogue 224
Glossary 229
Index 233
Colorplatessectioncanbefoundbetweenpages118and119.
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978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar
Bonnie J. Buratti
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Acknowledgments
I owe the most gratitude to those who have taught me important
life lessons. My parents Ralph and Hildegarde Buratti were people
who set an example by doing rather than by saying. My graduate
schooladvisor,ProfessorJosephVeverka,taughtmethatifit’sworth
doing, it’s worth doing well. If it’s not worth doing, don’t even get
started. I am grateful for the scientific colleagues and other friends
who have stood by me throughout the years. Special mention goes
to my fellow students at Cornell, Julio Magalhaes, Steve Lee, Jay
Goguen,thelateWilliamReidThompson,thelateDamonSimonelli,
and Peter Thomas. We share a bond like siblinghood. My other best
friends, Lisa Nuchtern, Ruth Several, Marilyn Andrews, and Sally
Swigart,andmyrealsiblings,BruceBurattiandBrendaBuratti,were
alwaystherenomatterwhat.
My editors at Cambridge University Press, Vince Higgs,
Philippa Cole, and Lucy Edwards, provided just the right amount of
proddingwhenotherobligationsbecameoverwhelming.Iwasfortu-
natetohavegenerouscolleagueswhoreviewedchaptersofthebook:
Don Yeomans, Rosaly Lopes, Anne Verbsicer, Jason Hofgartner, and
Linda Morabito Kelly. The remaining errors are all mine of course.
For interviews I thank Linda and Anne, as well as Tim Parker and
KennethLawrenceatNASA’sJetPropulsionLaboratory(JPL).
Theloveandsupportofmyfamilyhasbeenenduringanduncon-
ditional. My three wonderful boys (men now), Nathan, Reuben, and
AaronBurattiLam,allaccomplishedintheirownright,tookthetime
to read early manuscripts and to offer suggestions. Aaron helped in
the production of the manuscript at the very end. But foremost is
my husband, Kai S. Lam, who set the example with his own “butt
in chair” philosophy of writing, and continually encouraged me to
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978-1-107-15274-8 — Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar
Bonnie J. Buratti
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x acknowledgments
“just write.” He also provided the scientific honesty and measured
perspectivetotonedownpassagesthatsometimesveeredoff.
And of course I am indebted to NASA and JPL, where unbri-
dledcuriosityandsuperbleadershiparemanifestinthemissionsand
researchinwhichIhavebeensoprivilegedtoparticipate.
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Introduction
Writingsofthegreatthinkersaboundwithwordsexpressingthegreat
hold of astronomy. Plato said “astronomy compels the soul to look
upwards and leads us from this world to another.” When William
Herschel (1738–1822) – the father of modern observational
astronomy–receivedtheRoyalSociety’sCopleyMedalin1781,the
Society President and naturalist Joseph Banks, stated that “the trea-
sures of heaven are well-known to be inexhaustible.” Astronomers
themselves have spoken of their unquenchable curiosity and their
drive and persistence to slake that curiosity. German astronomer
Johann Schroeter (1745–1816) spoke of the “impulse to observe,”
whileanotherastronomersaidthepurposeofexistenceistoobserve.
When Herschel was once asked why he had become an astronomer
(withtheimplication–familiareventoday–thatalifeofobserving
is impractical, even useless) he simply said that when he looked up
andsawthebeautyandwonderoftheskieshedidn’tunderstandwhy
everyonewasn’tanastronomer.
Butthenthereisthecounterpointinthepublicmind,captured
in Walt Whitman’s (1819–1892) poem “When I Heard the Learned
Astronomer”:
WhenIheardthelearn’dastronomer,
Whentheproofs,thefigures,wererangedincolumnsbeforeme,
WhenIwasshownthechartsandthediagrams,toadd,divide,and
measurethem,
WhenI,sitting,heardtheastronomer,wherehelecturedwith
muchapplauseinthelecture-room,
Howsoon,unaccountable,Ibecametiredandsick,
Tillrisingandglidingout,Iwander’doffbymyself,
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2 worlds fantastic, worlds familiar
Inthemysticalmoistnight-air,andfromtimetotime,
Look’dupinperfectsilenceatthestars.
Thecalculatingastronomermissestheessenceofthething.Asbril-
liantashewas,Whitmanwaswrongonthisone.Mostnon-scientists
think science is dry, fact-based, memorization – exact, or impene-
trable. It is none of those things. Science is an endeavor of creative
thoughtandactivity,anditaffectsoureverydayworldbypavingthe
wayfortechnologicalinventionsandbyprovidingthegroundworkfor
everything from weather forecasting to curing cancer. In its highest
formitisnodifferentfrompoetry.Toseeforthefirsttimeanaspectof
natureisthesameascraftingagroupofwordsthatspeakadeeptruth
that every sensitive person can relate to, but perhaps can’t put into
words. The ancient Greeks accepted the profound status of Astron-
omybydeemingitoneofthefourquadrivia,areasofknowledgethat
formthebasisofwisdom(theothersareArithmetic,Geometry,and
Music).Astronomymaybethemostempiricalofthesefoursubjects,
but the driving force behind it is part of the abstract invisible world
that is the wellspring of human activity, the same drive that gives
rise to great literature, music, art, and some might even argue the
spiritualimpulse.
HowoftenIhaveheardfromnon-scientists,wheneverIspecu-
late a bit on anything: “You’re a scientist, you know you have to be
sureofeverythingandhaveabsoluteproof.”Scienceisn’tlikethat–
it’sbasedonhunchesandwhatisn’timmediatelyevidentinthedata
before you. It is propelled by speculation, leaps of faith, doubt, and
disagreement.Andevenwhenwethinkwearesure,paradigmscome
tumblingdown.IngraduateschoolIlearnedlifearoseinshallowseas
ontheearlyEarth:moleculeswerezappedbylightningandsunlight,
which in turn formed amino acids from which life somehow arose.
Nobel chemist Harold Urey and his graduate student Stanley Miller
had performed a series of key experiments in the 1950s that formed
thefoundationforthisidea.AfewshortyearsafterIcompletedgrad-
uate school, that paradigm had been completely turned around: the
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