   | Full Text Reviews: Bulletin for the Center... - 01/01/2017 Nearly two decades before Pluto’s redefinition to dwarf planet, the push was on among scientists to investigate this intriguing object at the outer reaches of the solar system, and just months before Pluto’s famous shift in status, the New Horizons mission had launched. The surprisingly lightweight and economical vehicle was equipped to capture images, measure space dust impact, and investigate Pluto’s atmosphere, temperature, and chemical composition before heading off for a peek at a yet-to-be-determined Kuiper Belt Object. Carson enters this story at a midway point in the New Horizons mission, with the flyby successfully completed, mind-boggling data in a preliminary stage of study, and the spacecraft now on its way to 2014 MU69, a KBO discovered to lie conveniently along New Horizons’ set path. Carson’s clear, enthusiastic text recounts the work of such team members as project leader Alan Sterns, mission operations manager Alice Bowman, and geologist John Spencer, tasked with tracking down a suitable KBO to visit. Well-organized chapters keep the chronological narration flowing smoothly, while sidebars and “Mission Brief” insets supply scientific explanations and data at need-to-know points in the text. Pluto enthusiasts will be fascinated by the recent data that amends many previous assumptions about Pluto, such as its extensive atmosphere, geological activity, and variety of surface features; readers who want to get in the ground floor of new discoveries will also appreciate this introduction to exciting information forthcoming from the 2014 MU69 flyby. A glossary, print and online resources, and an index are included. EB - Copyright 2017 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Booklist - 12/01/2016 This thrillingly up-to-date entry in the acclaimed Scientists in the Field series traces the history and progress of the exploration of Pluto, with special attention paid to the recent and still ongoing flyby mission, New Horizons. Bolstered by excited interviews with some of the scientists and engineers involved in the New Horizons mission, Carson covers the inception of the project, the construction of the probe, the physics gymnastics involved in collecting data once it finally arrived, and some of the groundbreaking discoveries garnered from those findings. Carson’s descriptions of the concepts are crystal clear and nicely supported by the many color photographs, plenty of which are part of the trove of photos taken by the probe, and diagrams charting, among other things, the probe’s path, Pluto’s geological makeup, and the solar system far beyond the usual eight planets. This enthusiastic, accessible look at both cutting-edge scientific discovery and the dynamic work behind the scenes will be an easy sell to space-mad kids and a valuable addition to any school library. - Copyright 2016 Booklist. Loading...
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