In the quest toward discovering Earth-like planets around other stars, scientists from the Florida Institute of Technology have creating a new space imaging technique that may take us one step closer due to its benefits over regular telescopes, which are not effective at capturing direct images of small objects due to the amount of the host star's light which typically drowns out the dimmer light of potential planets.
The new development, called a charge injection device (CID), has the ability to capture light from objects tens of millions of times fainter than other objects in the picture, such as an exoplanet that is much dimmer than a bright star in its proximity. This technology is possible due to the CID's use as a camera: each individual pixel works independently and uses a unique indexing system, allowing bright pixels to get picked up very quickly while allowing faint pixels to continue gathering fainter light.
"If this technology can be added to future space missions, it may help us make some profound discoveries regarding our place in the universe," Daniel Batcheldor, who led the study, said in a press release.
In the study, Batcheldor and his team used a CID on Florida Tech's 0.8-meter Ortega telescope and were able to pinpoint objects 70 million times fainter through the glare of Sirius, the brightest star in our sky, which is more than one thousand times more effective than current off-the-shelf astronomical cameras.
The unique solution provides plenty of potential for scientists due to its effectiveness and inexpensive price tag in comparison to other alternatives, including external occulters.
"Personally, I like very simple, straightforward solutions, especially when there is a complex problem," Batcheldor said. "The CID is able to look at a very bright source next to a very faint source and not experience much of the image degradation you would normally experience with a typical camera."
The findings were published in the Jan. 18 issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
