Physicists have recently developed a revolutionary technology that could potentially lead to the discovery of new Earth-like planets. The development of an astrocomb by researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and Cambridge University allows for the analysis of the blue-green light emitted by stars, which has never been done before. These astrocombs are able to detect slight variations in a star’s light caused by orbiting exoplanets.
This breakthrough expands the possibilities within the field of space exploration, as astrocombs have typically only been limited to the green-red part of the light spectrum. By examining shorter wavelength light, researchers hope to uncover previously unknown secrets of the universe.
Dr. Samantha Thompson from Cambridge University is excited about this new technology’s potential to allow for the study of smaller planets with longer orbits. The goal is to discover the first Earth-like planet orbiting around a nearby sun-like star. Heriot-Watt Professor Derryck Reid notes that this technology can provide a continuous sequence of optical markers from the ultraviolet to the blue-green, serving as a precision wavelength scale in this part of the spectrum.
The technology is currently being developed for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) being constructed in Chile’s Atacama Desert, which will be visible and infrared light telescope in the world when completed. A UK team involved in this project will also be working on implementing astrocombs for telescopes in South Africa and Canary Islands. The potential for this new technology to lead to significant discoveries in space exploration is an exciting prospect for researchers and scientists alike.
Overall, this groundbreaking technology opens up new possibilities for studying our universe and could potentially lead to significant discoveries about Earth-like planets outside our solar system.
