[X] My Assistant

[Rob Pinnegar]

There weren't many astronomy books in my hometown's local public library, and, as a result, I often ended up re-reading books I had already read several times just because they were the only ones available. I've been trying to identify one particular favorite for a few years now, but haven't been able to place it.

About the only thing I can unambiguously identify with this book is the last chapter, a macabre little piece with a title along the lines of "The Death Of The Solar System". The last couple of sentences were -- and I think this is nearly verbatim -- "The Solar System now consists of five dead planets circling a frozen cinder. Final curtain". This of course refers to the inner planets having been swallowed up by the Sun during its red giant phase. The last page also included a kids'-type drawing of the Sun, but drawn mostly in black, and with a sad, eyes-downcast face instead of the usual smiling one. Melodramatic, but the sort of melodrama that sticks in your mind when you're a kid.

I think it also featured several Bonestell-like paintings of the fission origin of the Moon, complete with a description of the "Pacific Ocean basin" theory (this could perhaps date the book) and also a red, Mars-like planet being tidally disrupted by Jupiter (thus creating the asteroid belt). However, these last few might have been from other books -- these memories are twenty-five-year-old, and it wouldn't be surprising if I'm confusing this particular book with a couple of others.

It was a fairly large (outsized) book, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't one of Franklin Branley's. Anyone remember it?