Australians have developed an optical chip for telescopes, allowing you to see dim exoplanets

Astronomers have been studying exoplanets for several years now. Since their discovery was made possible by the Kepler space telescope, scientists have discovered several thousand exoplanets, some of which may well be earth-like, with water in a liquid state and a dense atmosphere. Unfortunately, for the time being, a more detailed study of exoplanets is impossible, since their remoteness makes the work of specialists very difficult.

In order to evaluate the characteristics of an exoplanet, it is necessary to separate the “grain from the chaff,” or rather, to somehow remove the light of the star, so that the planet can be better seen. Researchers from Australia have discovered a way to make the star light filter more reliable and selective.

New development is a specific kind of optical chip. This chip can be used to improve the capabilities of existing telescopes - it is not necessary to create new types of telescopes for working with a novelty. Chip developer, Professor Steve Madden claims that technology is used here that can be compared with active noise cancellation in headphones. In the case of passive suppression, this is a banal isolation of acoustic waves. But in the case of active noise reduction applied acoustic interference.
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This method does not work very effectively if, for example, a child cries nearby. But here is a uniform background noise from a working server or engine headphones with such a system clean perfectly. Sound is a P-wave, which consists of two stages: compression and rarefaction. Noise-canceling speaker produces a sound wave with the same amplitude, but with an inverted phase (anti-phase) of the original sound. Waves in the process of interference are mixed in the new wave and overwhelm each other.


Professor Steve Madden oversees the work of the chip

The new chip works according to a similar principle, only the sound emitted by a star is not cut off here. “This chip is an optical interferometer that emits waves of the same amplitude as the star, but with the opposite phase, allowing you to see much less bright planets,” says the Australian.

Use the new chip can not only search for exoplanets. It can also be used to study and classify such objects with an eye to detailed study in the future. Such a chip, for example, can provide a qualitative study of the chemical composition of the atmosphere of the planets, which are very far from us. All that needs to be done is to only cut off the optical noise of the stars and objects that are between us and the exoplanet under study.

Harry-Dean Kenchington Goldsmith. A member of the chip development team who proposed the idea itself says that the technology used in the system works in a similar way to thermal imagers used by firemen to be able to see through the smoke. “The chip uses the heat radiated by the planet so that scientists can see its surface through clouds in a dense atmosphere. In the end, the developers are sure, such technology will help us to detect ozone on foreign planets capable of supporting life, ”Goldsmith said.



The search for earth-like exoplanets, the conditions on which are suitable for the existence of life is an important task. Scientists have been discussing this problem for a long time, trying to find new methods for finding objects that are distant from us and criteria for their evaluation. Interestingly, scientists do not yet have evidence that α Centauri A and α Centauri B have planets in the habitable zone. Perhaps such planets exist, but no one is sure. It is precisely known that α Centauri B has a planet, which, however, is located very close to the star. So, most likely, this is a hot world, located outside the habitable zone of its star, on which there is no life. The exoplanet was discovered by the Kepler telescope in 2012.

One of the methods for a detailed study of potentially habitable planets is specialized telescopes. A group of scientists is working on the Project Blue project, planning to launch a small optical telescope into Earth orbit. He will be able to observe the exoplanets of the star system closest to humans. But for each exoplanet such a telescope is hardly possible to create. But the optical chip is universal.