Slashdot Mirror
NASA Poised To Topple a Planet-Finding Barrier (nextbigfuture.com)
schwit1 shares a report from NextBigFuture.com: Babak Saif and Lee Feinberg at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, have shown for the first time that they can dynamically detect subatomic- or picometer-sized distortions -- changes that are far smaller than an atom -- across a five-foot segmented telescope mirror and its support structure. Collaborating with Perry Greenfield at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, the team now plans to use a next-generation tool and thermal test chamber to further refine their measurements. The measurement feat is good news to scientists studying future missions for finding and characterizing extrasolar Earth-like planets that potentially could support life. To find life, these observatories would have to gather and focus enough light to distinguish the planet's light from that of its much brighter parent star and then be able to dissect that light to discern different atmospheric chemical signatures, such as oxygen and methane. This would require a super-stable observatory whose optical components move or distort no more than 12 picometers, a measurement that is about one-tenth the size of a hydrogen atom.
>to find planets we'll never be able to reach!
It is entirely possible there are 'habitable' planets within reach of our technology - if we're willing to invest in building a heavily redundant generation ship and live forever in domes when we arrive at the destination, totally dependent on advanced technology for survival.
If I were a gambler, I'd say finding a Mars-equivalent would be like hitting the jackpot...
yet the train is going at 1.2 light speed when measured against the outer ring.
No, it's going 0.88235 light speed when measured against the outer ring, because you have to apply the Lorentz transformation when adding relativistic speeds. The relative velocity of any two objects can never exceed the speed of light no matter how clever you set it up.