For the first time ever, NASA researchers have successfully demonstrated in the laboratory that a space telescope rigged with special masks and mirrors could snap a photo of an Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star. The technique uses a system called the High Contrast Imaging Testbed at JPL. A roll-subtraction technique, borrowed from space astronomy, was used to distinguish planets from background light. The device is basicly a fairly simple coronagraph - an instrument used to "mask" a star's glare - paired with an adjustable mirror. The two, used together, could enable a space telescope to image a distant planet 10 billion times fainter than its central star. To date, scientists have used various techniques to detect more than 200 exoplanets. Most of these exoplanets are from five to 4,000 times more massive than Earth, and are either too hot, too cold or too much of a giant gas ball to be considered likely habitats for life. So far, no one has managed to capture an image of an exoplanetary system that resembles our own solar system.
Submitted by Shaun A. Saunders
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