One of ten billion earths: how we learn about our planet's past and future from distant exoplanets

1. From one to astronomical (Galaxies, stars, planets and more ; The first cool-star exoplanet, in Florence ; Transformation and the principles of uniformity and mediocrity ; Planet detectives ; Familiar with unfamiliar worlds! ; Faraway suns ; Advancing astrophysics ; Tools of science ; Anonymous renown ; Competitors in a team effort ; Narrowing in on the Goldilocks zone)

2. One step sort of life (In a planetary system, far, far away ; 'Don't you ever wonder where everybody is?' ; Looking for life ; The Drake and Rare Earth equations ; The communication challenge ; Is disequilibrium a signiture of life? ; Where to start?)

3. Exploring the Solar system (Where did it all end up? ; How far to the Sun? ; A manifest of mass ; The composition of major and minor planets ; Expeditions to the neighbors ; Synchronizing the Mooin ; Voyagers, explorers rovers and probes ; Sounding earth ; The stories of impacts ; The tales of comets ; Water in the Solar system ; Spinning and orbiting ; Patterns in orbits within the Solar system ; The active Sun ; Characteristics of our Solar system).

4. Exoplanet systems and their stars (The diversity of worlds ; Recognizing biases and the patterns in exosystems ; Detecting exoplanets ; A most unlikely place ; A most unlikely place, again ; Observing transits ; Attributes of exoplanets and exoplanetary systems ; Multiople suns ; Patterns in orbits of exosystems ; Characterising planetary systems in general ; Surprises, composure, the sales pitch, and enthusiasm)

5. The birth of stars and planets (The dawn of the beginning ; Bold ideas ; The makings of planets and stars ; Nuclear power and the ingredients of apple pie ; Veiled nurseries ; Population studies and polychromatic imaging ; Team science ; Genesis of a star and its entourage ; Some not-quite stars among the genuine ones ; Assembling elements ; Distance markers ; Born together, different lives ; Ancient worlds ; Processes of formation ; Orbit migration, the snow line, and time)

6. Drifting through a planetary system (Intuition in science ; The changing orbits of planets ; The problem with Mars ; Resonant clocks and planetary orbits ; Testing the scenarios and Earth's water content ; Instabilities and bombardments ; Characteristics of planetray systems).

7. Lone rovers (A nearby supernova? ; Signatures of a primeval explosion ; Ancient meteorites ; Discoveries from the Lunatic Asylum ; The disintegration of the nursery ; The effects of stellar neighbours ; Exoplanets floating between the stars ; Thrown out of the system ; What is it like on a nomad planet?)

8. Aged stars and disrupted exosystems (The tool of light ; The contamination of whaite drarfs ; The composition of shredded planets ; How can exoplanet remains fall into a white dwarf ; A preview of the future ; The rings of white dwarfs)

9. The worlds of exoplanets (The environment on exoplanets ; Visualizing the landscape ; The assortment of worlds ; Constraining exoplanet interiors ; Internal structure and history of formation ; The diversity of worlds, revisited).

10. Habitability of planets and moons (First stop: Titan ; Ancient life! Future life! ; Second stop: Venus ; Third stop: Mars ; Magnetism and lost oceans; Fourth stop: GJ581d, unconfirmed ; The challenge of exoplanet climatology)

11. The long view of planetary systems (Population of ecosystems ; The life-cycle of a planetary system ; How will it all end?)

12. Living on a pale blue dot (Interdisciplinary discipline ; Habitability, photosynthesis and volcanism ; Bringing it home ; Tipping points ; Snowball Earth ; Same Earth, different Earth ; The climate of life ; How does our Solar system compare? ; Earth: common and exceptional ; The prolonged transience of our yin-yang home).