For the first time, astronomers have been able to detect and monitor the reflected visible light that is scattered in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. Employing techniques similar to how sunglasses filter away reflected sunlight to reduce glare, a team of scientists led by Professor Svetlana Berdyugina of ETH Zurich’s Institute of Astronomy were able […]
European astronomers say they have detected a distant Earth-like planet with conditions that might allow liquid water to exist. The discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory’s 3.6-m telescope and the High Accuracy Radial Velocity for Planetary Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph. Twenty light-years away orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581, the new exoplanet is […]
NASA researchers have customized a space telescope with special masks and mirrors which they believe could allow it to take photographs of planets orbiting other stars (exoplanets). Although the apparatus has only been demonstrated in the laboratory, the successful test marks a dramatic step forward for missions like the proposed Terrestrial Planet Finder, designed to […]
