At once terrifyingly destructive and awe-inspiringly beautiful, volcanoes have long fascinated humankind. Yet our understanding of volcanoes on Earth - and throughout the celestial world - remains maddeningly incomplete. This work offers a tour of volcanic activity across the solar system. It also features photographs and artwork.

In the process, they entertain the possibility of hidden lakes on Saturn's moon Enceladus, discuss the potential effects of greenhouse gasses on Neptune's moon Triton, reconstruct the last moments of life for Pompeiians in the face of an erupting Mount Vesuvius, and explain how a 4,000-mile-long river of lava could have once flowed freely across the plains of Venus.Richly illustrated with original paintings supplemented by NASA and European Space Agency photographs, "Alien Volcanoes" advances our knowledge of volcanoes on other heavenly bodies, enhances our ability to comprehend how they came into being on Earth, and describes how we might better predict the impact of future eruptions.