Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to the Universe

Like almost everyone born in the last 100 years or more, as a child I looked up at the night sky and thought "I want to go there for a holiday". For a decade or so after the first moon landing we thought we could be holidaying on the Moon or Mars by now, but we're still waiting. Until then, Under Alien Skies can whet your travel appetite.

Plait mixes imagined extra-planetary tours of the Moon, Mars, an asteroid, Saturn, Pluto and beyond with the science behind what you would see on your trip (or not; as Plait reminds us, we're not going to a nebula anytime soon). Sadly, I know I was born too early to travel to the stars but hopefully my children will take something like Under Alien Skies with them when they spend their annual holiday on show more the Moon. show less

Under Alien Skies (2023) by Philip Plait, PhD. This book can be looked upon as the local version of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide…” not the Earth published novel but the intergalactic guide mentioned therein. Take a tour of the heavens and beyond with “The Bad Astronomer” Dr. Philip Plait and experience the wonder and awe and weirdness that awaits beyond our skies.
The Doctor puts FUN into (well I was going to use a word that has fun as a beginning, middle or end, but that would be the exact opposite of what I was going for, so…) everything he is talking about. From the moon to Mars to Saturn, asteroids and comets and beyond, Dr. Plait takes you to alien worlds where our common sense is skewed and slued into mind twisting, yet show more real, calisthenics that will have you amazed but wanting more.
This book is an essential introduction to what awaits further travelers. And it is a great introduction to young readers as a gateway to the wonders of science, astronomy, space exploration and much more.
It would seem I am very enthused about this book. Read it and you will be likewise. show less

Vivid and lively descriptions of what it would be like to be on the surface of, or in the surroundings of, Luna ("the Moon"), Mars, an asteroid, a comet, Saturn, Pluto, a planet in the Trappist-1 red-dwarf system, planets in a binary-star system, a planet in a system within a globular cluster of stars, a stellar-nursery nebula, and a supermassive black hole. Plait's alternation of factual sections with fictional you-are-there scenarios works to ensure that the book will leave all readers with a good deal of astronomical knowledge. Particularly knowledge-solidifying, I think, is the chapter on black holes.

Visit a dozen different areas of the universe, starting close and moving to light years away. Phil does a good job blending what we know from observational data with hypothetical views across the universe. Each chapter could be read on its own as a short story and I felt like I could've skipped around the book and enjoyed it just as much as reading it start to finish.

An interesting twist on the fascinating thing out there called out universe. The book profiles and number of the planets and then moves on to asteroids, star factories, and the ultimate mystery black holes. Wait he missed dark matter, something we know almost nothing about. It seems we are still in the dark ages here.

The author takes the position of something like a tour guide and show you the experience you would have along for the ride close up. It is an entertaining approach but he does get bogged down into some heavy wonkish science that brings back flashbacks as the type of text books you have read.