Looking Directly at Extrasolar Planets

D2Deek writes "Science Daily is reporting on a new device called an Optical Vortex Coronagraph that's been invented to directly image planets orbiting other stars by using a special lens that "spins out" the light from the star leaving only the reflected light from the planet." I just can't imagine trying to clean a lens shaped like a giant corkscrew.

Do not...

[OakDragon]

Do not look directly at extrasolar planets with remaining good eye.

Optical Vortex Coronagraph

[ch-chuck]

Is that anything like the Total Perspective Vortex [wikipedia.org] ??

lens-cleaning

[killmenow]

I just can't imagine trying to clean a lens shaped like a giant corkscrew.

Just put some isopropyl alcohol on a giant corkscrew-shaped q-tip. What's the big deal?

cleaning

[winkydink]

I just can't imagine trying to clean a lens shaped like a giant corkscrew.

Just run a lint-free Debian logo through it a couple of times.

That's...

[Dirtside]

I just can't imagine trying to clean a lens shaped like a giant corkscrew.

That's probably why you edit stories for Slashdot, instead of being, you know... a rocket scientist.

Foo et al.

[dpbsmith]

It's worth RTFA just to see a reference to "Foo et al."

(The full paper title is "Optical Vortex Coronagraph" by Gregory Foo, David M. Palacios, Grover A. Swartzlander Jr., College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona).

Re:Foo et al.

[wiggles]

He should open up a tavern at the university. He can call it the "foo bar"

Azathoth have mercy

[rolypolyman]

            "As Gilman looked into the Optical Vortex Coronagraph at the extrasolar planet, he became conscious of some formless alien presence watching him with horrible intentness. He felt entangled with something -- something which was not in the telescope, but which had looked through it at him. Something which would ceaselessly follow him.
            "Cautious investigators will hesitate to challenge the common belief that Gilman was killed by lightning, or by some profound nervous shock derived from an electrical discharge. Archaeologists and astronomers, however, are still trying to explain the bizarre designs impressed on the special helical-shaped mask, whose inner side bore ominous stains."

Re:Foo et al.

[Foo et al.]

I don't get it. Is this funny or something?

Re:Foo et al.

[ralphclark]

Then if he has a work colleague called Basil, or even Barry, he can invite him by saying "Are you coming to the Foo Bar, Baz?"

Re:Optical Vortex Coronagraph

[AndroidCat]

Sounds like three word Treknology to me: "Captain, we have to use the Optical Vortex Coronagraph to form a Quantum Subspace Bubble!"

Re:100-to-1000 looks like a very poor efficiency

[bensch128]

"Destructive interferometry" - where you blow up the star so you can see the planet.

Cheers,
Ben