The Milky Way Smells of Rum and Raspberries

December 19, 2022
This entertaining romp by astrophysicist Scudder (Astroquizzical) explores wacky trivia about the universe. Highlighting “some of the more nonsensical things we know about outer space,” Scudder discusses such oddities as dense clouds of gas that act as lasers, black holes that “sing” and “blow bubbles” of hot gas, and ’Oumuamua, one of only two asteroid-like objects known to have “swung through our solar system from outside it.” Scudder has a knack for homing in on bizarre cosmic phenomena, as when she notes that gas clouds surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way contain the chemical compound ethyl formate, which “helps give raspberries their flavor, and rum its taste.” She examines peculiarities in our solar system, noting that Jupiter’s moon Io “has lakes of lava” and the atmospheric pressure on Venus has destroyed every probe sent there, and then zooms beyond it, detailing the debate around whether a certain dense exoplanet is made of diamond or covered in lava. From Saturn’s slowly decaying rings to diamond rain on Neptune, Scudder delivers entertaining pop science, all explained in accessible prose. Armchair astronomers will come away with a renewed sense of wonder at the strangeness of the universe.