Astronomers Develop Method For Detecting Faint Exoplanets

SGDK664 writes "The University of Arizona's astronomers have developed a way to see faint planets previously hidden by the overwhelming light output of the star they orbit (abstract). At the core of the system is a small piece of glass with a highly complex pattern inscribed into its surface. Called an Apodizing Phase Plate, or APP, the device blocks out the starlight in a very defined way, allowing planets to show up in the image whose signals were previously drowned out by the star's glare. The breakthrough, which may allow observers to even block out starlight completely with further refinements, was made possible through highly complex mathematical modeling. If you're trying to find something that is thousands or a million times fainter than the star, dealing with the halo is a big challenge."

Re:terrible signal to noise ratio?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is actually: Exoplanet, http://itunes.apple.com/app/exoplanet/id327702034?mt=8

Attribution

[Framboise]

Well, university of Arizona did contributes to this work, but from the 9 author institute list it arrives in the 8th position
boooh:

1 Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
2 Sterrewacht Leiden, P.O. Box 9513, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
3 European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Cassilla 19001, Santiago, Chile
4 European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzschild Strasse, 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
5 Laboratoire dAstrophysique, Observatoire de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, CNRS, BP 53, F-38041 Grenoble, France
6 Space Telesope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
7 LESIA, UMR 8109 CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, UPMC, Université Paris-Diderot, 5 place J. Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
8 Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
9 Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany