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Major Research Projects |
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I'm participating in a Key Science Project for the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer: the “HOSTS” survey, which is a sensitive survey of warm interplanetary dust around nearby stars.
Such dust — similar to the Solar System's zodiacal dust — comes from unseen asteroids and comets orbiting the stars.
It is one of the important challenges for eventually directly imaging rocky terrestrial planets around other stars, since a large amount of dust can hide the planets.
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The Large Binocular Telescope at Mount Graham, Arizona
[Credit: A. Roberge]
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I'm also involved in planning for future space telescopes aimed at exoplanets and planet formation studies. One new activity is ...
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The debris disk around Beta Pictoris with its embedded gas giant exoplanet
[Credit: ESO/A.-M. Lagrange]
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Exoplanet Probe Science and Technology Definition Teams :
The goal of these teams is to study concepts for relatively near-term, medium-sized space telescopes aimed at direct observations of exoplanets and planet-forming disks.
I'm a member of the External Occulter team, which will study concepts that use a free-flying starshade to block out bright stars and see the faint planets or disks around them.
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Artist's conception of an Earth-like exoplanet
[Credit: Lynette Cook]
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More information about starshades can be found on the New Worlds Observer webpage, a larger mission concept with the primary goal of imaging and characterizing Earth-like exoplanets with liquid water on their surfaces.
Such planets would be much like our own and might be hospitable for life
(i.e. “habitable”).
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