Nature Astronomy Study Demonstrates Feasibility of Orbiting Starshade for Ground-Based Exoplanet Imaging
Continuing what we discussed in the previous article (“Can we detect an Earth-like-Exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like-Star for signs of life?,” The California Tech, November 12, 2024), we have published a new study in Nature Astronomy and was selected for the March cover issue of that journal. This study demonstrates the feasibility of directly imaging a Solar System analogue around a nearby star by deploying a space-based starshade in orbit at 170,000 km, to produce an almost perfect shadow across the apertures of Earth’s largest large ground-based telescopes currently under construction.