Comparative Planetology

There is now a wealth of spacecraft data for almost all major solid-surface bodies in the Solar System. From orbiting Mercury, roving on Mars, or flying past Pluto, we have never been so capable of understanding our place in the Solar System. However, with this new detailed view of our Solar System comes a fresh challenge: how do we integrate all these data into a coherent view of how planets develop, how they differ, what fundamentals they share, and what planetary properties determine if life can ever take hold? We will help address these questions by producing a book series on comparative planetology—drawing comparisons and contrasts among the vast array of planetary bodies in the Solar System, including Earth. Each book will consider a single planetary process or property—volcanism, tectonism, impact processes, atmospheres, oceans, magnetospheres, or even the conditions required for life—for all relevant bodies in the Solar System, rather than focusing on a single body, as has been done before. No such resource currently exists, especially not as part of a systematic, broader series designed to consider the new insights planetary exploration has afforded us over the past decade. To find out more about the series, contact the Acquisitions Editor Peter Llewellyn at [email protected] opens in new tab/window.