An Ambitious New Technology Might be Needed to See Other Earths
www.universetoday.com
NASA and its partners are starting to develop plans for the Habitable Worlds Observatory flagship mission that's due to launch in the late 2030s or 2040s. Its primary goal will be to observe other Earth-sized worlds orbiting Sun-like stars within the habitable zone. To do this requires blocking the light from the star with an internal coronagraph and a separate starshield. A new paper suggests that NASA should consider a "photonic chronograph" that could be twice as effective in revealing faint planets beside bright stars.
  • A_A@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    The shape of the Illustrated “star shade” is puzzling to me. I would think it would be better to use a simple disc or sphere.
    This is just an artist’s view, but are the “rays” usefull ? Something to do with interference ?

    • LughMAEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/1015/flower-power-nasa-reveals-spring-starshade-animation/

      The flower-shaped petals are part of what makes the starshade so effective. “The shape of the petals, when seen from far away, creates a softer edge that causes less bending of light waves,” said Dr. Stuart Shaklan, JPL’s lead engineer on the starshade project. “Less light bending means that the starshade shadow is very dark, so the telescope can take images of the planets without being overwhelmed by starlight .”

      • A_A@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Okay so this is useful.
        So it’s better that my previous comment was not :

        Oh look ! They made this cute little “children’s drawing” sun like ☀️ shade ! Lol !

        I’m now happy I refrain to my first impulse to write that 😋