In their lucid and readable book, Elliot and Kerr describe how the sheer rational power of the human intellect has combined with serendipity, space age technology, and the motivation of professional rivalries to enable scientists to pierce through the superficial beauty of planetary rings and gain a deeper appreciation of how they behave and why they exists.
Clark R. Chapman, Research Scientist Planetary Science Institute, Science Applications, Inc.
Few areas in modern space exploration have provided more exciting discoveries than planetary rings. The Voyager images of the rings of Saturn have appeared on the front pages of newsmagazines as well as in scientific journals, while the discovery of the dark narrow rings of Uranus provide an equally fascinating story. Now, for the first time, Jim elliot and Richard Kerr provide a book that tells the remarkable story of planetary rings in a manner both authoritative and highly readable. Through their words, we become a part of the process of discovery, sharing in the remarkable hours when the rings of Uranus were discovered from an airborne observatory, or when the Voyager spacecraft skimmed over the awesome rings of Saturn. Although it is written with the lay reader in mind, this volume meets the highest standards of scientific accuracy and can be read with profit by professionals in astronamy and planetary science. I recommen it highly.
David Morrison, Acting Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education
Rings is an excellent book which both conveys the excitement of scientific discovery and summerizes how new findings fit into our gorwing understanding of planetary rings.
Jack Lissauer, Planetary Scientist, NASA-NRC Resident Research Associate
This book is a remarkably complete and readable description of one of the most fascinating stories in the history of the exploration of the solar system. Elliot has been the central figure in the study and exploration of the rings of Uranus, and Kerr was one of the most thoughful and lucid science writers to participate in coverage of Voyager encounters with Jupiter and Saturn. They have written a book which can be read with equal pleasure by the specialist and the layman. It captures the excitement of discovery as well as showing the stumbling and erratic paths by which astronomy and other sciences progress.
Scott Tremaine, Associate Professor of Physics, MIT