The device can detect small variations in the light of stars created by the exoplanets orbiting them (those beyond our solar system) – potentially discovering an Earth-like exoplanet.
Previous devices were mainly limited to the red-green part of the light spectrum, but the new system offers the chance to uncover even more space secrets.
The discovery was made by physicists from Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University and Cambridge University.
“This is a really exciting development that will allow us to study smaller planets on longer orbits than ever before – with the aim of discovering the first ‘Earth-like’ planet orbiting a nearby Sun-like star,” he said. said Dr. Samantha Thompson of Cambridge.
The technology is developing
Professor Derryck Reid of Heriot-Watt said the shorter wavelength light the new system can examine is “rich in atomic absorption features of interest to astronomers”.
“Our new approach provides for the first time a continuous sequence of optical markers, from ultraviolet to blue-green, which serve as a precision scale of wavelengths in this part of the spectrum,” added Professor Reid.
The technology is being developed for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), currently under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
It will have a 39 meter primary mirror and will be the largest visible and infrared light telescope in the world.
The British team will also work on astrofields for the telescopes in South Africa and the Canary Islands, according to Sky News.
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Tags: Earthlike planets discovered scientists technological breakthrough
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