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Solaris
by Stanislaw Lem (1961)

The central character in Solaris is a sentient ocean that humans find impossible to communicate with, and seemingly creates repressed and newly corporeal memories in those who study it. The ocean's purpose in doing so is unknown, forcing the scientists to shift the focus of their quest and wonder if they can truly understand the universe without first understanding what lies within their hearts.

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Tau Zero
by Poul Anderson (1970)

The spaceship Leonora Christine is designed to travel close to the speed of light, thereby radically slowing the aging of its crew. The ship passes through an uncharted cloudlike nebula and it continues to accelerate, allowing eons to pass by in the process. The novel combines an interest in the emotional lives of its characters, and a fascination with all things technological and scientific.

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Ringworld [S1]
by Larry Niven (1970)

The artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety million miles in radius. Pierson's puppeteers, the aliens who discovered it, are understandably wary of encountering the builders of such an immense structure and have assembled a team to explore it. But a crash landing on the vast edifice forces the crew on a dangerous trek across the Ringworld.

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Contact
by Carl Sagan (1985)

At first it seemed impossible... a radio signal that came from far beyond the nearest stars. But then the signal was translated, and what had been impossible became terrifying. The signal contains the information to build a Machine that can travel to the stars and can take a human to meet those that sent the message. They have been watching and waiting for a long time. Sagan popularised astronomy through 'Cosmos' TV series in the early-80s.

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The Engines of God [S1]
by Jack McDevitt (1994)

Two hundred years ago, humans made a stunning discovery in the far reaches of the solar system - a huge statue of an alien creature, with an inscription that defied translation. Now, as faster-than-light drive opens the stars to exploration, humans are finding other relics of the race they call the Monument-Makers, but impending ecological disaster may render the answers too late.

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The Reality Dysfunction [S1]
by Peter F. Hamilton (1996)

In AD 2600 the human race has explored and colonised hundreds of planets scattered across the galaxy. They host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. On a primitive colony planet a renegade criminal's chance encounter with an utterly alien entity unleashes the most primal of all our fears. It is the nightmare which has prowled beside us since the beginning of history.

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Annihilation [S1]
by Jeff VanderMeer (2014)

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilisation. The first expedition returned with reports of a lush pristine landscape. Expeditions after that all ended in disaster. The twelfth expedition set out hoping to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself. But its members are keeping secrets from one another.

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Children of Time [S1]
by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015)

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But the planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.

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Aurora
by Kim Stanley Robinson (2015)

A generational starship sets off on humankind's first voyage beyond the solar system to a moon in the Tau Ceti system. Upon arrival, it is found to be inhospitable to human life. The ship's AI presides over a debate where the colonists agree to split into those who wish to stay and attempt to terraform a Mars-like planet and those who want to risk a return to Earth.