Customer Reviews (1)

A book written before we ever landed on the moon - magnificent
EXPLORING OTHER WORLDS
From the New Golden Book of Astronomy Full color Illustrations

A golden book.. Collectors

By: Rose Wyler & Gerald Ames
Illustrated by: John Polgreen & George Solonevich
Cover: by Norman Adams


It is amazing to me when I read this as it is written well before todays day and age with all that has been accomplished in space travel, and more. Not to be disappointed at ALL! A fantastic book.

This book talks about the possibilities of space goals in knowing more about planets, the moon and more. Quite interesting to read the dreams and discussions of very intelligent people who dream of spaceships, space flights, and astronomy.NOT to be missed!
... Read more

Product Description

In Cosmic Biology, Louis Irwin and Dirk Schulze-Makuch guide readers through the range of planetary habitats found in our Solar System and those likely to be found throughout the universe. Based on our current knowledge of chemistry, energy, and evolutionary tendencies, the authors envision a variety of possible life forms. These range from the familiar species found on Earth to increasingly exotic examples possible under the different conditions of other planets and their satellites.

Discussions of the great variety of life forms that could evolve in these diverse environments have become particularly relevant in recent years with the discovery of around 300 exoplanets in orbit around other stars and the possibilities for the existence of life in these planetary systems. The book also posits a taxonomic classification of the various forms of life that might be found, including speculation on the relative abundance of different forms and the generic fate of living systems. The fate and future of life on Earth will also be considered. The closing passages address the Fermi Paradox, and conclude with philosophical reflections on the possible place of Homo sapiens in the potentially vast stream of life across the galaxies.

Product Description
Paul Davies explains the significance of the amazing quantum universe, where fact is stranger than any science fiction. He takes us into a world where commonsense notions of space, time, and causality must be left behind as the realm of solid matter dissolves into vibrating patterns of ghostly energy, and where mind and matter are interwoven in a subtle and holistic manner. An Australian physicist and author of GOD AND THE NEW PHYSICS, Davies writes for the lay reader in simple language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

TRY IT
ONE OF THE EASIEST BOOKS ON A DEEP SUBJECT THAT I HAVE RAN ACROSS

AND TRUST ME I HAVE TRIED QUITE A FEW. I CAME AWAY THANKFULTHAT

I FOUND A BOOK THAT EXPLAINS THEORY OF RELATIVITY SO I COULD AT

LEAST THINK I UNDERSTOOD IT. BUY THIS BOOK.


GENE ADDINGTON

From Physics to Metaphysics: Probing the Universe to its Very Core

"Facing up to ... a superspace in which myriads of worlds are stitched together in a curious overlapping, wavelike fashion, the concrete world of daily life seems light years away. ... one is bound to wonder to what extent superspace is real." Paul Davies



Davies Temporal Gymnastics:
Paul Davies suggests that in a closed-time world, the past would also be the future. He thus opens up a prospect of temporal paradoxes, more frequently visited by science fiction writers, since H.G. Wells. But, if time joins up with itself similarly to a snake swallowing its tail, he proposes it would not be possible to distinguish forwards or backwards in time, just as he has explained, that there is no distinction between left and right hands in a Möbius-type space. Prof. Davies concludes, "Whether or not we would notice such bizarre properties of time is not clear. Perhaps our brains, in an attempt to order our experiences in a meaningful way, would be unaware of these temporal gymnastics."

Holes with Teeth?
As a Mathematical physicist, he expresses his Möbius-style thoughts, "Although edges and holes in space and time might seem like a mad mathematician's nightmare, they are taken very seriously by physicists, who consider that such structures may very well exist. Although there is no evidence for the mangling of space-time, there seems a strong suggestion that space or time might develop 'edges' which have borders, or Cauchy-Reinmann type contours, "so that rather than tumbling unsuspectingly off the edge of creation, we should be painfully and, it turns out, suicidally aware of our impending departure."

The Anthropic Principle:
Cosmologists use what they call the Copernican principle, that the universe looks exactly the same, whatever your position. We on earth do not have a privileged position. While Copernicus rejected the idea that the earth was the center of the universe, he accepted the idea that the sun was. The anthropic principle is supposed to limit the Copernican principle, which can be used to `explain,' or at least reduce or surprise at some of the more astonishing features of the cosmos. It does this by taking as basic that we are intelligent carbon based life forms, and then asking what is necessary in cosmological terms for the existence of such life forms. (www.ucl.ac.uk/sts)

Davies Keystone Proposition:
As articulate lecturers, of great universities tradition, Paul Davies render an exhilarating tour of cosmic integration, of 'Space, Superspace, and the Quantum Universe,' shedding light on the grand questions of human existence. His keystone proposition, leads to the more likely conclusion, that our carbon-based life was not arrived at coincidentally, but that the universe was 'intelligently designed for man.' Yet, the persuasive writers, and outstanding scientists own personal view of cosmic events, clearly supported argument of compelling address and outstanding guideline for 'intelligent design' skeptics and advocates.

From Physics to Metaphysics:
After a preface, prologue, Paul Davies starts with Einstein's comment, and proceeds on the concept of perception, supporting his case with scientific facts of subatomic chaos, quantum, and superspace before he turns to metaphysical implications, asking questions on the nature of reality, mind and matter, through the anthropic principle to ask, "Is the universe an accident?"
What do you think?

Asimov's Review:
Dr. Davies describes the deepest aspect of quantum theory in a way that is at once luminously clear and tremendously exciting. No one can read it without feeling the thrill of probing the universe to its very core."

Other Worlds: Many strong points, a few weak ones.
Davies is a well-known professor of mathematical physics now retired to writing books explaining and popularizing quantum physics. This is one of his earlier books (1980) and, as other reviewers may have noted, he has since honed his writing skills. Yet, this is an interesting book, particularly, I think, in his treatment of stellar nucleosynthesis, nuclear mechanics, the significance of the strong and weak nuclear forces being what they are, the significance of the hydrogen to helium ratio in the early universe (this having to do with the formulation and ratio of protons to neutrons at a highly specific moment) and other factors relating to the so-called anthropic cosmological principle. Another interesting discussion is of the synthesis and unique properties of carbon. Readers may also find Davies' description and contrasting of the Bohr/Copenhagen interpretation with the Everett/'many worlds' interpretation (of quantum superpositioning) to be valuable.
The book's weaknesses I will relegate mainly to its beginning and endings. The last chapter, "Supertime", an excursion into the Everett view, is, unfortunately, Davies at his least interesting. And it might be noted, though Davies does not, that most physicists continue to prefer the Bohr view to Everett's (and that both may be wrong, for that matter). The last few pages seemed almost tedious to this reader. The other problem that I saw was Davies early tendency to equate "theology" with vitalism. In this naïve view, popularized by Carl Sagan, one is asked to accept that modern western science emerged triumphantly from polytheistic ('the gods must be angry') cultures, which is simply wrong. Scientific thinking was birthed as Hellenism moved away from polytheism toward an overarching monotheism (Anaxagoras' primordial Mind, Aristotle's First Mover, etc). The thinking was that if nature had been rationally and willfully produced, it must then be reducible to coherent 'laws' which could be rationally understood. As intellectualized, pagan quasi-monotheism gave way to Judeo-Christian monotheism in the following centuries, this thinking was reinforced. The early practitioners, philosophers and patrons of science were not vitalists or shamanists or animists, they were not polytheists or pantheists or atheists or even agnostics. Only within the monotheistic view was nature expected to 'make sense' and only within this view was natural science a rational undertaking. Davies almost got it right without noticing it: "This belief in simplicity at the heart of complexity has been a driving force behind scientific inquiry for millennia, and persists undiminished today, in spite of the shocks that, as we shall see, it has received in recent times." (p 19) First Philosophy (natural theology) and natural science (natural philosophy) were something of a twin birth in Greek thought. The former being the underwriter and guarantor of the latter. That there must be an inherent conflict is a rather recent propaganda (played up by both poles, to be sure). In fairness to Davies, I'll point out that by the time he had written 'The Mind of God' (1993) he had begun to approach a better understanding. In the more recent book he writes, "the justification for what we today call the scientific approach to inquiry was the belief in a rational God whose created order could be discerned from a careful study of nature."
Davies' knowledge of current and historical philosophical aspects of science runs deeper than many people writing on these issues today. Take away the first and last few pages and this is a pretty good book. Even when he's sub-par, Davies is quite good. If I were to suggest inaugural inductees to a science writer's hall of fame, my short list would be: George Gamow, Roger Penrose, and Paul Davies.

It reads like your video manual...
The first thing that needs to be examined about a book such as this is to whom is it addressed to. If it's aimed towards people with a very basic knowledge in physics and it attempts to explain the quantum world to them, it has more than probably failed. A target group other than that would be a moot target assuming they'd already have a fundamental knowledge of quantum physics.

This book reads like your proverbial video manual. You suspect that its author might (and that's a major "might") know what he's talking about but you certainly won't. In the end your video recorder won't work and you'll be bored breathless.

Even though Paul Davies wants to delve into (and explain) such exciting matters such as the possibility of parallel universes and other dimensions a great many things go wrong in the process:

-first of all he's totally unreadable, unleashing pages upon pages of dull writting at you. Where illustrations, graphs and diagrams should be present to help the reader understand what it is he's saying, they are no where to be seen.

-secondly, his whole thesis is flawed because it's riddled with dogma scattered all over the book. Things become even worse because many times the scientific dogma thrown at us contradicts the author himself. Other times it seems apparent that the author is spectacularly unaware of certain facts that would make some of the theories he presents weak. Example: on pages 142-145, Davies argues that the conditions on earth are amazingly ideal for life to flourish. Earlier by the way, he's argued that life is rare in the universe exactly because you need ideal conditions. Anyhow, he goes on explaining that we live on a "relatively quiet place in the universe" without cataclysms or massive upheavals that would threaten life on earth. Sadly though, it's well known that there must have been at least 4 such massive upheavals in the earth's history which came very near to destroying all life and the conditions for it necessary (due to comet or asteroid impacts or other reasons we haven't figured out yet) and yet life survived. This actually shows that life is way more durable than the author assumes. Then anybody who's read a only little bit about asteroids and comets knows that it's only a myth that we live in a quiet corner and that we might be subject to surreal destruction any given minute. Then he goes on claiming that life cannot exist beyond temperatures of boiling water. Maybe someone should've pointed out to the author that bacteria have been found to happily live in the earth's lava of all places!!!!!

Such comical passages are not isolated in the book. In fact, most of the "Other worlds" is jam-packed with dogmatic assumptions like that. I could list several examples such as the above but then i'd need to write a small book myself.

What i found even more annoying in this book, is that while the author actually wants to present us with an unconventional view of the world and reality as we should perceive it, what he manages instead is to provide yet another bible for the clueless.

If you're going to entertain notions such as parallel universes, or if you're going to actually admit that on the subatomic level things do not make sense the way physics has been (???) making sense of our world so far, then you have to, no, no you are absolutely obliged to, leave any possibility open. In a parallel universe there's no guarantee that anything "works" the way it does here. I'm going too far, because in fact even in in THIS universe there's no guarantee that everywhere things work as they do here. But, when you reach passages where the author talks about calculating the total mass of black holes in the universe you lose all hope of unconventionality and you'reassured you're in the realm of a new religion dawning. We already have more than enough religions though, and certainly more dogmas than we can handle.

The quest for a book that deals with quantum physics in a comprehensive, and more importantly, undogmatic way, unfortunately continues...

Great Read, but not one of Davies' Best...
I really enjoy reading Paul Davies' books. Davies is a nice departure from many science writers who cannot come to a non-physicist level when explaining a concept. In down-to-earth terms, he explains anti-matter and how Einstein's theories explain much about time and space.

The reason I don't give this book 5 stars is that it is one of Davies' earlier writings (originally published in 1980). I think he's improved over the years, and one of the best reads I've had from Davies is his "The Last Three Minutes." "Other Worlds" is a great read, but it never seems to achieve it's objective. At the onset, you're expecting to learn how alternate existences and parallel universes may exist or at least be explained mathematically, and if they do exist, what is their physical representation. To me, however, the whole point of the book is lost in deep explanations regarding electron paths and variances along those paths, etc. How these variances apply to "Other Worlds" is never clearly explained. At least to me.

Still, it's a Davies book, and they're very interesting to read. He puts scientific principles in layman's terms without insulting one's intelligence. Overall, I recommend this book, even though I'd recommend reading some of his later works first.

Enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description

Outstanding imagery, stunningly presented. Perceptive text from award-winning science writer James Trefil. A foreword by David H. Levy, discoverer of 21 comets. Put them all together and you get Other Worlds: Images of the Cosmos from Earth and Space.

Bonnie Gordon, editor of Astronomy magazine, calls this "a gorgeously produced book about our solar system, the larger universe, and our place in both....Few writers give you as much insight as Trefil. Few will make you feel you understand the story of planetary evolution or how scientists discovered the distances to neighboring stars."

Paul H. Knappenberger, president of Chicago's Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, agrees, calling Trefil "a superb guide" with "a splendid overview of astronomy." Join in this armchair journey through the universe, which sparkles with the best images available from all sources, including ground-based observatories, landers, flybys, and other missions, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope.

Other Worlds, says Knappenberger, "is a masterful balance of beautiful, full-color photographs and clearly written, insightful information about the cosmos....Jim Trefil takes the reader on a mind-expanding adventure that begins with our own star, the sun, then moves outward through the planets and moons of our solar system. He leads us past the stars and gas clouds of our Milky Way galaxy and beyond to the myriad other distant galaxies that populate the expanding universe. Along the way we encounter such exotic objects as black holes and quasars, and witness galactic cannibalism.

"Trefil explains in a clear and easily readable manner our evolving understanding of the complex nature of the cosmos, and how scientists have gone about exploring the universe....Everyone who is curious about space and our place within the grand scheme of things will want to have this book."

Highly acclaimed science writer James Trefil is the Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Physics at George Mason University and is on the Science Advisory Board for National Public Radio. He has written numerous books on science for the general public, including The Moment of Creation, The Dark Side of the Universe, From Atoms to Quarks, and Are We Alone? Winner of the AAAS-Westinghouse Award for science writing, Trefil also contributes to Smithsonian, Science, and USA Today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

great service
Very pleased with the swift delivery and the quality of the book.Excellent price. Thanks.

Incredible Closeups
Although I started out rating this a "4", I changed my mind and gave it a "5", mainly because I found it for half price and also because some of these pictures are so marvelous that it's scary.You've never seen the Eagle or Helix nebulae like this before and some of the pictures within our own solar system give you a good idea of what it must be like if you're out there--scary.Away from Earth and in a desolate zone millions of miles away.Galaxies, star clusters, etc.. are so much more defined than the photographs of these wonders that come from Earth-based observatories.No atmospheric turbulence and also great photos from the greatest scope man has invented.Galileo would marvel at the photographs of Jupiter and its Moons, which he first discovered long ago.He sure didn't see them like this.

Great photos, simple text
This is another sumptuously produced book from the National Geographic Society. The text is a little "mickey-mouse" by my standards, but the photos, many from NASA planetary missions are Hubble, are beautifully reproduced and well worth the price of admission.

The book is divided into sections: inner planets, outer planets, and deep space, with text and photos (in that order) for each.
Nicely done and well worth browsing.

Many spectacular images!
The book goes from the sun and the solar system, through galaxies and nebulas, up to the edges of the known universe, giving great and worthy images (and info) in each "station", all printed on a high quality paper, of course. Especially good are the images from the galaxies and nebulas. Those from the near planets I liked a bit less, and I've seen better ones elsewhere...
The text all the way is well written and enjoyable to read. It gives, in addition to the info about each object, some nice (but basic) introduction to astronomy in general - things such as how distance from stars is measured, how light coming from objects is analyzed, astronomy history etc...
However, as it covers the entire universe, it is, as you might think (considering it's size...), pretty basic - both the images and the info. It gives just a small (but good!) taste of everything, not going too deep anywhere.

All in all, it's an excellent book, but I think it'll be worthy to you only if you don't have many other astronomy books, since it's pretty basic.

Another Good Photo Book of Space by National Geographic
Over the years, the National Geographic Society has produced many excellent books about the exploration of space such as Mars by Raeburn and Golembek and Orbit by Jay Apt.This time they have chosen some of the best photographs obtained from the various NASA probes to the planets and the Hubble space telescope.Most of the book is filled with many high quality photographs (all color) and includes only some supporting text.For this reviewer, the small amount of text was a nice bonus, since it increased my viewing pleasure.I found this book to be a good addition to my collection of space related books.

Approximately two-thirds of this book covers our sun, its planets and the minor objects like asteroids and comets.The book contains the latest photographs from the Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor and Galileo space probes as well as the many classic photographs taken during the early years of the space program.The final third of the book contains deep space photographs mostly taken by the Hubble telescope.These photographs examine many of the more famous deep sky objects, like the Eagle and Helix Nebulae, but also include numerous galaxies and super novae photographs.Again, the latest and highest quality photographs are shown here.

If you like a book that is filled with many high quality photographs of our solar system and deep sky objects, this book is for you. ... Read more

Product Description
Published, circa 1910.
(From the Contents:)

I.-THE LAST OF THE EARTH
II.-SPACE AND MARS
III.-HEAVENLY BODIES
IV.-PREPARING TO ALIGHT
V.-EXPLORATION AND EXCITEMENT
VI.-MASTODON AND WILL-O'-THE-WISP
VII.-AN UNSEEN HUNTER
VIII.-SPORTSMEN'S REVERIES
IX.-THE HONEY OF DEATH
X.-CHANGING LANDSCAPES
XI.-A JOVIAN NIAGARA
XII.-HILLS AND VALLEYS
XIII.-NORTH-POLAR DISCOVERIES
XIV.-THE SCENE SHIFTS

BOOK III.
I-SATURN
II.-THE SPIRIT'S FIRST VISIT
HI.-DOUBTS AND PHILOSOPHY
IV.-A PROVIDENTIAL INTERVENTION
V.-AYRAULT'S VISION
VI.-A GREAT VOID AND A GREAT LONGING
VII.-THE SPIRIT'S SECOND VISIT
VIII.-CASSANDRA AND COSMOLOGY
IX.-DR. CORTLANDT SEES HIS GRAVE
X.-AYRAULT
XI.-DREAMLAND TO SHADOWLAND
XII.-SHEOL
XIII.-THE PRIEST'S SERMON
XIV.-HIC ILLE JACET
XV.-MOTHER EARTH
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Kill everything, God knows his own...
At least, that's what it feels like the author is saying as his three male characters go about shooting everything that moves.Or flies.Or floats.Or just sits there, being harmless.No, really, these spacemen have huge guns and they plan to shoot every animal, plant and, yes, even ghosts.This is an engineers dream, with easy space travel, planets waiting to be colonized, and lots of animals that are easily killed and yummy to eat too.
The whole book feels dirty.Trash is tossed out the airlock of the moving spaceship.There is a gutter on top of the spaceship to help keep the rain off when they land on a planet.The planets, including the Earth, seem to be mankind's playground.The engineers, scientists and businessmen plan to change everything, from the tilt of the globe to the universe itself.This is what John Jacob Astor, rich guy, inventor and victim of the Titanic, thought the future would be like.Thank Buddha he was so wrong.
Yet it sounds so reasonable and logical when the author or we should say his characters, debate about how things should be.Yet we should remember all three are from the good Anglo-Saxonized world, as S.M. Stirling states in his introduction.

Compare to Bellamy's "Looking Backward"
You may want to compare this to Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward", which was published in the 1890s. Both books looked forward a hundred years to 2000. Each author gave his vision of the future. Astor imbues this book with a somewhat polemical slant. [As indeed did Bellamy in his.] The result is a book that may not be the most gripping of reading by current standards, but which still gives insight into a mindset of that era.

The contrast between the two books is reflected in Astor being a successful inventor. No doubt this gave him a very rosy tinged worldview, unlike Bellamy's socialist leanings. And that is the value of these two books considered as a pair. One uses the dominant value system of its time, the agressive capitalism, and the other speaks forth from the resultant opposite.

Interesting to see Steve Stirling edit this book. He has done good research for his science fiction novels, and perhaps that led him to this, long obscure text. ... Read more

Product Description
The rate of expansion of our universe is mind-blowing: imagine a pea growing to the size of the Milky Way in less time than it takes to blink. In all this infinite space that we cannot even see, let alone explore, it seems certain that there is some life on other worlds.From Aristotle to ET via radio, religion and reincarnation, Surendra Verma's fast-moving narrative examines the history of our search for alien life, and dispels the myriad myths on the subject, before focusing on the real possibilities lurking in space.In a popular and easy-to-read style, Verma uses current research to speculate what life is like on other planets, how we might communicate with it, and what Earth might seem like to visitors. ... Read more

Product Description
Two scientists provide a popular account of the search for planetary systems outside our own solar system, detailing the technology and scientific techniques that make such searches possible and the discoveries that have been made. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Scientific speculation at its best
This is richly detailed consideration of questions concerning life on other worlds. It considers exploration and colonization of Space, communication with extraterrestial intelligences, the kinds of minds extraterrestials are likely to have, the character of human colonies and their likely transformations in time, the means by which we might enhance life on earth through connection with extraterrestials.Anderson one of the foremost Science Fiction Writers of the Isaac Asimov generation is scientifically literate, andboldly imaginative.
The major difficulty with the work is that so much of it is speculative, even in regard to answering the question of the book's title , as to whether there is life on other worlds.Anderson is among those who strongly believe that there is almost certainly such life.
In speaking about forms of such life more ancient than us he has this to say.
"So my guess is that the older races in the universe may have somewhat greater ability to visualize, imagine , and reason than we have, but if so, it is not overwhelmingly greater. Our highest intellects could talk to them, and understand most of what they are doing, though we might never have thought of it for ourselves. However , by human standards, our elders are apt to be emotional giants, with a balance, an insight, a creativity, such as we can hardly imagine- but which we could learn some sanity ourselves."

Here the optimistic Anderson obviously has his eye on the dangerous Cold War balance- of - mutually - assureddestruction . And he is clearly one of those who does not believe Mankind's having developed weapons of mass- destruction guarantees our using them. Instead he suggests that Mankind will eventually make its way out to other worlds whose connection with their home will be nonetheless eventually lost.
Pascal wrote that the ' silence of these infinite spaces casts me into dread'. When I myself contemplate worlds of the kind Anderson proposes I do not feel assured, but rather a strange anxiety that the great distances mean we will only always be strangers to any other kind of 'mind' there is.And this with the one exception and the religious question Anderson does not raise, whether there might be before and after One and Only One Mind Who made and sustains and will somehow 'save' us all. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
Every one of us with an ounce of imagination has wondered, atleast once or twice, whether or not living things make their homes... up there. Life on other planets is simply too compelling a subject to let go, and so we spend hundreds of millions of dollars looking for its traces. This search has been documented by the father-son team of cosmochemist David E. Fisher and writer Marshall Jon Fisher with Strangers in the Night, a clever, scientifically rigorous look at the evidence and the explorers hoping to answer the question "Does intelligent life exist elsewhere (or anywhere) in the universe?"

From the lunar canals "discovered" by Schiaperelli in the 19th century to SETI to the Martian meteorite, the Fishers paint a picture of scientists struggling with the excitements and disappointments inherent to their work. Forced to draw inferences from the barest traces of indirect evidence, researchers from fields as diverse as oceanography, cosmology, and microbiology have banded together to develop the still-emerging discipline of exobiology. With a fair and competent assessment of the evidence, Strangers in the Night tells us that, though the answer to the question "are we alone?" is still elusive, we are coming ever closer and may just know for surebefore long.

Keep watching the skies! --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Do-be-do-be-do
An informative and engaging account of the history of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.This is the sort of book that whets your appetite for more research and funding as well as for more information onthe subject.I was particularly impressed with their style - clear,entertaining and thorough.It made me want to read more of their books,whatever the topic.A highly recommended book for folks interested inscience but afraid of the math. ... Read more

Product Description
Ever since the Montgolfier's hot air balloon carried a chicken, a goat, and a duck into the Parisian skies, scientists have dreamed of contraptions to explore the atmosphere. With the advent of the space age, new airborne inventions were needed. From the Soviet Venus balloons to the advanced studies of blimps and airplanes for the atmospheres of Mars and Titan, Drifting on Alien Winds surveys the many creative and often wacky ideas for exploring alien skies. Through historical photographs and stunning original paintings by the author, readers also explore the weather on planets and moons, from the simmering acid-laden winds of Venus to liquid methane-soaked skies of Titan. ... Read more