Next-generation planet finder
NASA and the National Science Foundation are building a $10-million instrument to detect planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.
The work will guide NASA’s efforts towards finding evidence of life outside our solar system.
The instrument, named NEID, will be built during the next three years and then installed on the WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
NEID will detect planets by the gravitational tug they exert on their stars, a phenomenon known as “the wobble effect.”
The device they’re crafting is a giant spectrograph, which will take light and measure its various components.
The team will look for features in the data that correspond to absorption by chemical elements present in the star’s photosphere – measuring the movement of these features will tell researchers about the magnitude of the star’s wobble, which is related to the mass of the planet revolving around that star.
More on NASA
NASA to build a quieter supersonic passenger jet
The best Nasa pictures this year
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft – the Kuiper Belt and beyond
Loading ...