Until recently we knew of only one Star System and that was our own Solar System. In the last few years using advanced telescopes and spectroscopes, it has been possible to begin the study of other star systems. Although the information is as yet very incomplete, and awaits the results from the Kepler and Darwin missions and three new huge telescopes of which the largest will be the European Space Observatory's forthcoming Extremely Large Telescope, scientists will soon be in a position to describe in detail a large number of star systems other than our own. Here it is proposed to describe our present state of knowledge of three relatively close star systems to our own.
Somewhere
by
Ray Goodwin
Somewhere there are mountains
Glistening in the snow
Somewhere there are mountains
That we shall never know
Somewhere there are rivers
Flowing fast and free
Somewhere there are rivers
That we can never see
Somewhere there are oceans
And sun drenched island sands
Forests full of creatures
In vastly distant lands
Somewhere there’s a planet
Beneath an alien star
The people watch our tiny sun
And wonder where we are
One day perhaps we’ll find them
Across the void of space
Perhaps through ways as yet unknown
We’ll meet them face to face
The author of this web site Ray Goodwin holds B.Sc. Degrees from London University in Chemistry, Geology and Physiology and an M.Sc. in Biochemistry. He has spent most of his professional life teaching in Colleges of Technology. On his retirement he has entered the fields of astronomy, astrochemistry, astrobiology and space sciences. He has spent a great deal of his retirement in visiting amateur astronomy societies and in attending European Space Agency Symposia in ESTEC in the Netherlands and other scientific conferences in England and Sweden. He regularly attends the yearly European Astrofest in South Kensington London and other meetings in the UK. He has written scientific articles and given a number of lectures on diverse scientific subjects.
Readers of this web site are invited to e-mail the author ( ray@lifeinthecosmos.com) and discuss their opinions of the topics dealt with and suggest any changes which they think may be helpful.