Catching Stardust: Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System

Natalie Starkey Bloomsbury Sigma £14.99 HB

It seems we may owe a lot to comets and asteroids – our very existence perhaps. Not only is it likely that one of these killed off the dinosaurs, allowing small mammals to prosper and ultimately evolve into human beings, but they may also have provided Earth with the necessary raw materials for life to begin. Scarily, if one were to impact today, it might also initiate our demise.

With the intention of promoting the study of comets and asteroids to further understand their role in the development of life, to aid on-going efforts to avoid disaster if one were on a collision course with Earth and generally to learn more about how our Solar System evolved, this book provides a great introduction to these small celestial bodies. It summarises what we know about them, describes current efforts to locate and monitor them and even discusses the feasibility of mining them.

What stands out about this book, however, are the chapters describing two recent missions to comets: Stardust and Rosetta. Natalie Starkey’s experience working on these missions has enabled her to provide clear and insightful descriptions of them and their results, with a few wonderfully random details thrown in.

The book could use a few more images but the well-written narrative makes Catching Stardust an enjoyable read that effectively argues the case for more missions to study comets and asteroids.