exo-Earths – Astronomy Now

New instrument built to search for Earth-like exo-planets

14 March 2018 William Harwood

New high precision spectrometers are expected to help ground-based telescopes detect the presence of Earth-size planets orbiting other stars by measuring subtle changes in starlight caused by the gravitational tugs of orbiting exoplanets.

Breakthrough Listen searches new-found nearby planet Proxima b for signs of ET

8 November 2016 Astronomy Now

Breakthrough Listen, the 10-year, $100-million astronomical search for intelligent life beyond Earth launched in 2015 by Internet entrepreneur Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking, has just announced its first observations of newly-discovered Earth-size planet Proxima b orbiting the nearest star to the Sun using the Parkes Radio Telescope in New South Wales, Australia.

Exozodiacal light presents challenge for direct imaging of exo-Earths

6 November 2014 Astronomy Now

An international team of astronomers has discovered exozodiacal light close to the habitable zones around nine nearby stars using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer.