How Many Additional Exoplanets are in Known Systems?

By Brian Koberlein - November 05, 2024 10:05 AM UTC | Exoplanets
NASA's TESS mission has turned up thousands of exoplanet candidates in almost as many different star systems. But if one or two planets show up in a system, that means it's aligned with Earth, and that means we should be able to see even more in the same system. In a new paper, astronomers calculate which planetary systems have room for more exoplanets, creating a list of priority targets for further study.
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Future Space Telescopes Could be Made From Thin Membranes, Unrolled in Space to Enormous Size

By Brian Koberlein - November 03, 2024 12:05 PM UTC | Telescopes
As we saw with JWST, it's difficult and expensive to launch large telescope apertures, relying on origami techniques to unfold the full mirror. A new paper proposes that telescope mirrors could be made out of a thin polymer that's only 200 micrometers thick. It could be rolled up inside a rocket fairing and then unrolled once it gets to space. This could allow apertures vastly larger than anything currently in space, with several working together as an interferometer.
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