EU researchers are developing powerful new telescopes to help uncover Earth-like planets around distant stars and advance the search for extraterrestrial life.
Across the billions of galaxies and stars in the universe, only one place is known to host life—Earth. Yet the hope of finding other living worlds drives scientists to pursue ever-smarter methods in their search.
Despite cataloging roughly 6,000 exoplanets, a replica of Earth—a planet similar in size that orbits a star like our sun in a similar position to us—has yet to be identified. This is not for lack of effort. Rather, it reflects the challenges involved.
While scientists have found rocky planets similar in size to Earth around smaller red dwarf stars, those around sun-like stars are much harder to detect because they appear comparatively smaller against their brighter host stars. However, a new telescope could help researchers in this search.
Doing so could expand our search for habitability in the galaxy. We know that Earth is just the right size and distance from its host star to support water and life. Is the same true elsewhere?
Dr. Nuno Santos, a leading Portuguese astrophysicist and a driving force behind exoplanet exploration in Europe, is heading up a team of researchers developing new observational tools. They will help cut through the interference created by these distant fiery "suns."
One of the main hurdles is the "noise" generated by stars such as our sun.
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