Studying exoplanets is made more difficult by the light from the host star. Coronagraphs are devices that block out the star light and both JWST and Nancy Grace Roman Telescope are equipped with them. Current coronagraphs are not quite capable of seeing other Earths but work is underway to push the limits of technology and even science for a new, more advanced device. A new paper explores the quantum techniques that may one day allow us to make such observations.
Continue reading “The Search for the Perfect Coronagraph to Find Earth 2.0”JWST Sees Four Exoplanets in a Single System
When the JWST activated its penetrating infrared eyes in July 2022, it faced a massive wish-list of targets compiled by an eager international astronomy community. Distant, early galaxies, nascent planets forming in dusty disks, and the end of the Universe’s dark ages and its first light were on the list. But exoplanets were also on the list, and there were thousands of them beckoning to be studied.
But one distant solar system stood out: HR 8799, a system about 133 light-years away.
Continue reading “JWST Sees Four Exoplanets in a Single System”Planning is Underway for NASA’s Next Big Flagship Space Telescope
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has only been operational for just over a year, but this isn’t stopping the world’s biggest space agency from discussing the next big space telescope that could serve as JWST’s successor sometime in the future. Enter the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), which was first proposed as NASA’s next flagship Astrophysics mission during the National Academy of Sciences’ Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 (Astro2020). While its potential technological capabilities include studying exoplanets, stars, galaxies, and a myriad of other celestial objects for life beyond Earth, there’s a long way to go before HWO will be wowing both scientists and the public with breathtaking images and new datasets.
Continue reading “Planning is Underway for NASA’s Next Big Flagship Space Telescope”A Last-Minute Addition to the Solar Orbiter Allows it to See More Deeply into the Sun’s Atmosphere
Spacecraft instruments are highly specialized and can take years to design, build, and test. But a last-minute hack to one of the instruments on the ESA’s Solar Orbiter has allowed the spacecraft to take some difficult observations it would otherwise have been unable to take.
It’s all because of one astronomer and an instrument door.
Continue reading “A Last-Minute Addition to the Solar Orbiter Allows it to See More Deeply into the Sun’s Atmosphere”It’s Already Hard Enough to Block a Single Star’s Light to See its Planets. But Binary Stars? Yikes
Detecting exoplanets was frontier science not long ago. But now we’ve found over 5,000 of them, and we expect to find them around almost every star. The next step is to characterize these planets more fully in hopes of finding ones that might support life. Directly imaging them will be part of that effort.
But to do that, astronomers need to block out the light from the planets’ stars. That’s challenging in binary star systems.
Continue reading “It’s Already Hard Enough to Block a Single Star’s Light to See its Planets. But Binary Stars? Yikes”By Blocking the Light From a Star, Webb Reveals the Dusty Disk Surrounding It
AU Microscopii is a small red dwarf star about 32 light-years away. It’s far too dim for the unaided human eye, but that doesn’t diminish its appeal. The star has at least two exoplanets and hosts a circumstellar debris disk.
It’s also young, only about 23 million years old, and it’s the second-closest pre-main sequence star to Earth. The JWST recently imaged the star and its surroundings and found something surprising.
Continue reading “By Blocking the Light From a Star, Webb Reveals the Dusty Disk Surrounding It”Dust Might Reveal the Presence of Habitable Planets
NASA’s next great space telescope should launch no later than 2027. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a powerful wide-field infrared telescope that will create panoramic fields of view 100 times greater than Hubble’s. The Roman Telescope has a variety of scientific objectives, and one of its jobs is to complete a census of exoplanets to answer questions around habitability.
A new study shows how the Roman Space Telescope can measure the dust in distant solar systems to help find habitable planets.
Continue reading “Dust Might Reveal the Presence of Habitable Planets”Modern Solar Eclipse Science: Huge Coronal Mass Ejection Caught in Action
There’s an old adage that says there is ‘nothing new under the Sun…’ but that doesn’t apply when it comes to solar eclipse science.
Beyond just providing an awesome celestial spectacle, astronomers have often taken advantage of the brief moments afforded by solar totality to explore the Sun and its environs. To this end, total solar eclipses have historically offered chances to carry out scientific experiments in the past, and continue to do so today.
Continue reading “Modern Solar Eclipse Science: Huge Coronal Mass Ejection Caught in Action”There are Natural Starshades Out There, Which Would Help Astronomers Image Exoplanets
In the past few decades, the study of extrasolar planets has grown by leaps and bounds, with the confirmation of over 4000 exoplanets. With so many planets available for study, the focus of exoplanet-researchers is shifting from discovery to characterization. In the coming years, new technologies and next-generation telescopes will also enable Direct Imaging studies, which will vastly improve our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres.
To facilitate this process, astronomers will rely on costly technologies like coronagraphs and starshades, which block out the light of a star so any planets orbiting it will become more visible. However, according to a new study by an international team of astronomers and cosmologists, eclipsing binary stars could provide all the shading that’s needed to directly image planets orbiting them.
Continue reading “There are Natural Starshades Out There, Which Would Help Astronomers Image Exoplanets”WFIRST Gets its Coronagraph, to Block the Light of Stars and Reveal Their Planets
In the next decade, NASA will be sending some truly impressive facilities to space. These include the next-generation space telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Wide-Field Infrared Space Telescope (WFIRST). Building on the foundation established by Hubble, WFIRST will use its advanced suite of instruments to investigate some of the deepest mysteries of the Universe.
One of these instruments is the coronagraph that will allow the telescope to get a clear look at extra-solar planets. This instrument recently completed a preliminary design review conducted by NASA, a major milestone in its development. This means that the instrument has met all design, schedule and budget requirements, and can now proceed to the next phase in development.
Continue reading “WFIRST Gets its Coronagraph, to Block the Light of Stars and Reveal Their Planets”