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Ultra-Sensitive Camera To Measure Exoplanet Sizes

Posted by timothy on from the ignoring-global-poverty dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "US astronomers and engineers have built a new camera to precisely measure the size of planets moving around distant stars. This camera has been dubbed OPTIC — short for 'Orthogonal Parallel Transfer Imaging Camera.' According to the research team, it is 'so sensitive that it could detect the passage of a moth in front of a lit window from a distance of 1,000 miles.' I'm not sure if this analogy is right, but the team said it was able to precisely define the size of a planet called WASP-10b which is orbiting around the star WASP-10, about 300 light-years from Earth."

5 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Split infinitives are perfectly legal by the_other_chewey · · Score: 5, Informative

    Re those "splitinfinitive" taggers: Split infinitives are perfectly legal in English.
    Yes, in American English as well.

    And if they are used to change the emphasis in a phrase, they often are very useful too. They can even allow for improved clarity.
    So just stop to stupidly impose latin grammar rules and conventions on another language.

    By the way: Ending sentences with prepositions is generally OK as well.

    1. Re:Split infinitives are perfectly legal by owlnation · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Thank you!

      And dear Grammar Nazis, take note that the object of language is communication. Shakespeare (perchance, fairly highly regarded for his vocabulary and poetry) made up new words and rules all the time. It's fun being creative with words.

      If the grammar, spelling or sentence structure makes a passage unintelligible, then it's sometimes fine to point that out. Otherwise... shut the fuck up. Go bully people on Wikipedia like you normally do -- there you'll be very welcome.

  2. Re:doesn't sound very impressive by hcdejong · · Score: 3, Informative

    It measures light to a precision of one part in 2,000

    So that's 11 bits of intensity information? Most professional camera CCD's are 12 bits per color. Some are 14 bits per color. Doesn't sound very impressive. And with multiple exposures, it should be possible to get a much higher resolution.

    14 bits is all nice and good if your light source is the local star and you can saturate your CCD within milliseconds.
    We're measuring starlight here, at maybe 10 orders of magnitude less light. Try getting 14-bit resolution at that level without drowning in noise.

  3. WASP? by rasputin465 · · Score: 3, Funny

    the team said it was able to precisely define the size of a planet called WASP-10b which is orbiting around the star WASP-10, about 300 light-years from Earth.

    Next up for the team? Precisely measure planets around stars SPIC-20, CHINK-15, and GRINGO-117.

  4. Re:Equivalent of a moth at 300ly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Bad interpretation. They are taking about change in intensity of light.

    A moth flying in front of a window.
    A window is say 3'x4' = 12 sq ft = 1728 sq in.
    Moth is 2" wide, 1" tall triangle = 1 sq in.

    change in intensity = 1/1728 = .06%

    If the star is size of sun, size of planet
      = sqrt(.06%)
      = 0.24% in diameter compared to star
      = .24/100 * 1.4e6 km = 3367 km