The Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck

A second edition of Planetary Geology: An Introduction book will be published by Dunedin Academic Press at the end of June 2013. The book is co-authored by former UCL Professor Claudio Vita-Finzi and by current UCL/Birkbeck lecturer, and CPS member, Dr Dominic Fortes.

Since the launch of the first edition back in 2005, planetary science has been greatly enriched by missions of exploration to the most diverse regions of the Solar System, including the MESSENGER probe to Mercury, the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, and numerous missions to Mars, including three robotic rovers. Additionally, advanced telescopes have sharpened our vision of the cosmos to the extent that neighbouring planetary systems, some of which may be habitable, now fall under the purview of the geologist and astrobiologist.

The new book has been substantially re-written and updated over the last 18 months to reflect these extraordinary advances in our understanding of the planets. The text has been expanded by 25 %, including comprehensive tables reflecting the redefinition of the term ’planet’ and ‘dwarf planet’ by the IAU in 2006 and a more detailed glossary. Of the 171 colour figures, 90 % are either completely new or updated, and around half of the figures are entirely original illustrations produced specially for this work by the authors.

The book will be available in hard copy and as an e-book, and may be pre-ordered from Amazon.