Destination: Amaltheia | Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, authors of "Destination; Amaltheia", have already several
collections of SF stories to their credit. Arkady Strugatsky (b. 1925) is a linguist and
translator specialising in Japanese. Boris (b. 1933) is an astronomer and works at the
computer laboratory of Pulkovo Observatory. The title story of this volume is their second
novelette appearing after "The Country of the Purple Clouds" —about explorations on
Venus, First Prize winner in a best SF book competition.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. .. . Hydrogen phantoms, the strangest and
most enigmatic objects in the solar system. Enormous masses of hydrogen and
helium tinged by methane and ammonia. What is their structure? What makes
them rotate at such a frantic .speed? What is their source of energy? We
observe titanic changes on their surface. We see strips of clouds streak along,
broken now and then by giant whirls, streamers of gases erupt into space in
flaring bursts. What forces are behind these outer phenomena? Thermonuclear
reactions? But these giants have sub-zero surface temperatures: —216°F on
Jupiter and even lower on the others. What is then the mechanism of these
primaries? Perhaps it is some physical principle we don't know yet and even
do not so far dare to guess at....