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Looking Directly at Extrasolar Planets

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the flushing-out-the-noise dept.

D2Deek writes "Science Daily is reporting on a new device called an Optical Vortex Coronagraph that's been invented to directly image planets orbiting other stars by using a special lens that "spins out" the light from the star leaving only the reflected light from the planet." I just can't imagine trying to clean a lens shaped like a giant corkscrew.

12 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Do not... by OakDragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do not look directly at extrasolar planets with remaining good eye.

    --
    Dark Reflection
  2. Optical Vortex Coronagraph by ch-chuck · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is that anything like the Total Perspective Vortex ??

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:Optical Vortex Coronagraph by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sounds like three word Treknology to me: "Captain, we have to use the Optical Vortex Coronagraph to form a Quantum Subspace Bubble!"

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  3. lens-cleaning by killmenow · · Score: 2, Funny
    I just can't imagine trying to clean a lens shaped like a giant corkscrew.
    Just put some isopropyl alcohol on a giant corkscrew-shaped q-tip. What's the big deal?
  4. cleaning by winkydink · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just can't imagine trying to clean a lens shaped like a giant corkscrew.

    Just run a lint-free Debian logo through it a couple of times.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  5. That's... by Dirtside · · Score: 3, Funny
    I just can't imagine trying to clean a lens shaped like a giant corkscrew.
    That's probably why you edit stories for Slashdot, instead of being, you know... a rocket scientist.
    --
    "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
  6. Foo et al. by dpbsmith · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's worth RTFA just to see a reference to "Foo et al."

    (The full paper title is "Optical Vortex Coronagraph" by Gregory Foo, David M. Palacios, Grover A. Swartzlander Jr., College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona).

    --

    "How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!

    1. Re:Foo et al. by wiggles · · Score: 5, Funny

      He should open up a tavern at the university. He can call it the "foo bar"

    2. Re:Foo et al. by Foo+et+al. · · Score: 2, Funny

      I don't get it. Is this funny or something?

    3. Re:Foo et al. by ralphclark · · Score: 2, Funny

      Then if he has a work colleague called Basil, or even Barry, he can invite him by saying "Are you coming to the Foo Bar, Baz?"

  7. Azathoth have mercy by rolypolyman · · Score: 4, Funny


                "As Gilman looked into the Optical Vortex Coronagraph at the extrasolar planet, he became conscious of some formless alien presence watching him with horrible intentness. He felt entangled with something -- something which was not in the telescope, but which had looked through it at him. Something which would ceaselessly follow him.
                "Cautious investigators will hesitate to challenge the common belief that Gilman was killed by lightning, or by some profound nervous shock derived from an electrical discharge. Archaeologists and astronomers, however, are still trying to explain the bizarre designs impressed on the special helical-shaped mask, whose inner side bore ominous stains."

  8. Re:100-to-1000 looks like a very poor efficiency by bensch128 · · Score: 1, Funny

    "Destructive interferometry" - where you blow up the star so you can see the planet.

    Cheers,
    Ben