Alien Planets Revealed

Gr 5–8—An informative, if somewhat thin NOVA episode about finding exoplanets, but only through the Kepler space observatory. The sophisticated but repetitive animation of the spacecraft in operation or of alien life on planets looks so believable that many viewers will have trouble distinguishing it from clips of the space launch and of actual plant and animal life on this planet. Two extrasolar planets discovered in their stars' "Goldilocks Zone" (i.e., potentially "just right" for life) are highlighted, though the fact that both differ significantly from Earth in size and other characteristics is underplayed. Kepler's ability to spot tiny changes in light intensity as planets orbit across the faces of their suns is clearly explained, though none of the other finding techniques that planet hunters use rates a mention, and a final note about Kepler's failure in May of 2013 is followed by a cursory reference to "another generation of space telescopes" on the way. Limited as this is in scope, it does offer a glimpse of scientists at work, and also introduces one of the hottest areas in space science today.—John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York City