Gallery | exoplanet images | Exoplanet 7 (part 3): A new view on Beta Pic b
Here is another picture of Beta Pic b, this time taken using a new technique that better blocks the light from the parent star. When stars are observed with telescopes, the wave nature of light spreads the image out a little bit into a bright core and a more diffuse halo. This new sophisticated method takes some of the light from the core and uses it to cancel out the light from the halo, allowing fainter nearby objects - like, say, planets - to be seen.
This technique, once set up correctly, is actually not terribly hard to adapt to other telescopes. This means that new planets may be found far more rapidly than before. Direct imaging, once the most difficult of planet-finding methods, may become the most prolific!
Original blog post: Get ready to see lots more exoplanet images soon
Credit: ESO
This technique, once set up correctly, is actually not terribly hard to adapt to other telescopes. This means that new planets may be found far more rapidly than before. Direct imaging, once the most difficult of planet-finding methods, may become the most prolific!
Original blog post: Get ready to see lots more exoplanet images soon
Credit: ESO
