Includes bibliographical references and index.

pt. I. Detection of extra-solar planets : methods and observations. Detection of extra-solar planets in wide-field transit surveys ; The theory of planet detection by gravitational microlensing : blips and dips from the gravitational bending of light ; The practice of planet detection by gravitational microlensing : studying cool planets around low-mass stars ; Modelling spectroscopic and polarimetric signatures of exoplanets -- pt. II. Formation and evolution of planetary systems. Proto-planetary discs - current problems and directions ; Debris discs and planetary environments ; Dynamical evolution of planetary systems ; Late stages of solar system formation and implications for extra-solar systems -- pt. III. Dynamics of planetary systems. A brief account of mutual planetary perturbations ; Fundamentals of regularization in celestial mechanics and linear perturbation theories ; Mechanisms for the production of chaos in dynamical systems ; Extra-solar multiplanet systems ; The stability of terrestrial planets in planetary systems ; Did the two Earth poles move widely 13,000 years ago? An astrodynamical study of the Earth's rotation.