Anyone have any revolutionary ideas on building a telescope that can image planets in other solar systems?

Question

At the rate they are going we are never going to see exo planets, its time we figure out a whole new way of collecting light

Answer 1

Very Large Telescope Interferometers are already being built and tested even as you ask that question. See links. Such telescope arrays are capable of optically resolving Jupiter-sized planets at distances of 10 parsecs. Theres is no reason why further improvement in visible light acuity cannot be achieved, particularly with proposals for telescope arrays in space. We should someday be able to view extrasolar planets with the same clarity as we view our own planets from Earth with ordinary telescopes.

The basic idea behind such telescope interferometer arrays is to create a "synthetic aperture" far larger than any one single telescope can practically by built. In optics, resolving power is limited by the width of the aperture, not the area, so the idea is to have a wide array of telescopes which light is collected and combined inteferometrically to produce sharp images.

Answer 2

At the rate we are going we will not only find earth sized extrasolar planets within a decade or two, we will also be able to determine the composition of their atmospheres. And thereby determine whether the planet is alive or not. NASA already have a space based telescope designed for this purpose on the drawing board, the Terrestrial Planet Finder. Not only that, ESA, the European Space Agency also have a space based planet finder telescope, Darwin, in the works.

Answer 3

NASA already has plans for the successor to the Hubble telescope --------- there are multiple proposals even including a "liquid" mirror telescope and\or a Lunar telescope. Most of the proposals discuss a LARGE multi mirror telescope capable of resolving planets around nearby stars. These scopes would use computers to control and align the mirror segments------ and large CCD type imaging cameras to "see" the planet.

Answer 4

A gigantic reflecting telescope, in one of the craters on the moon's far side, has been talked about. Either that, or a really large orbiting telescope would do the trick.

Answer 5

Solar Power Design Manual - http://SolarPower.duebq.com/?HIo

Answer 6

New technology isn't needed. It's just a matter of building stuff on a bigger scale (like the projects mentioned by the other posters). It's simply a matter of money. If you want your tax dollars to pay for it, write you congressman and tell him.

Answer 7

First question, your watching returned into the earlier on account that delicate from a action picture star has to shuttle many 1000's, a number of them 1000's and 1000's of light-years to seem in our sky at evening. with the aid of the time you notice that delicate, its been vacationing for an prolonged time already. preserve in mind that the closest famous person is like sixteen something delicate-years away meaning that for people who would desire to bypass the fee of light (which we are no longer able to) that's 186, 282 miles consistent with 2d, you are able to attain the closest action picture star in sixteen years. while you bypass the %. of light, your going 671 trillion miles consistent with hour! 2d question, no they do no longer look to be looking unavoidably on the quicker. even in spite of the undeniable fact that Einstein's equations go away for time shuttle, that hasn't been invented yet. no longer in the adventure that your thinking besides yet you will desire to declare that ingredient slows down in homestead in keeping with how briskly you're going. What meaning is time could be unique to you in the adventure that your going 186,000 miles consistent with hour around the earth in orbit yet whilst coming back to earth, you likely someting like ten minutes youthful than each and every physique else. 0.33 question, extraterrestrial beings. Is there existence on distinctive planets? You betcha! How do i know, pondering we exist thats why! So there is no reason to assume that existence isnt attainable someplace else. It quite relies upon on how close they are to their image voltaic and in the event that they have have been given the comparable reward we had to maintain life. to illustrate, Mars would desire to have had existence besides yet its ecosystem is definitely, no longer fairly there and without one, you're no longer able to stay. If extraterrestrial beings have been to come back around the planet Earth, that they had see Earth because it fairly is sweet now,people integrated and optimistically we will not have any conflict of the worlds buisness. in the event that they seem with the aid of way of a telescope, in keeping with how stepped forward their telescopes are, they does no longer see persons besides so as that they does no longer know we've been precise right here till they actual have been given right here to earth