NASA's Space Telescope: The Trump Administration's attempt to "kill 1,400 new planets"

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NASA's WFIRST space telescope, currently under design, will give man the largest, deepest, and clearest image of the universe from the Hubble Space Telescope, and could discover up to 1,400 new planets in just 2 square degrees of the night sky, according to new research.

A study conducted by astronomers from Ohio State University and published on February 25 in the & nbsp;Astrophysical Journal & nbsp; Series of supplements reveals that the $ 3.2 billion US, WFIRST could also be the key to understanding the growth of the Universe. Ohio State has been involved in WFIRST since its inception.

In February 2019, the Trump administration recommended to eliminate WFIRST, what was described as a "deadly blow"& nbsp; by some, although it was later reinstated by Congress which gave NASA an 8% increase in its budget.

What is WFIRST?

Abbreviation for Wide Field Geometric Telescope, WFIRST is a space telescope under development by NASA. It was designed to look for three key areas: exoplanets, dark matter / dark energy and the formation of stars and planets.

Unlike space telescopes launched in the mid-2030s (ie LUVOIR, Habex, origin and & nbsp;Lynx), WFIRST is a relatively modest design. It will have the same mirror size as Hubble at 2.4m, but will add a number of incredible improvements that will help spot exoplanets and probe the Universe in infrared, what Hubble can not do.

How is WFIRST different from Hubble?

A wide angle lens on WFIRST will give him 100 times the Hubble field of view, which will essentially allow him to map the Milky Way and other galaxies 100 times faster than Hubble. "We want to know what kind of planetary systems there are," said Matthew Penny, lead author of the study and postdoctoral researcher from the State of Ohio's astronomy department. "To do this, you do not just have to look at where the obvious and easy things are, you have to look at everything." WFIRST will do this by performing sensitive near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy, essentially by means of the "Invisible Universe".

How will WFIRST find exoplanets?

First of all, he will photograph them. WFIRST will be equipped with a coronograph, an instrument that blocks the direct light of a star so that nearby objects are visible. Small planets similar to Earth and in orbit close to their host stars should become visible, but the planets that WFIRST is likely to find will be farther from their stars than most of the planets found to date, according to Penny.

The Kepler Space Telescope that discovered more than 2,600 planets outside of our solar system but run out of fuel in October 2018. "Kepler started looking for planets that revolve around their stars as the Earth is no longer near our Sun," says Penny. "WFIRST will complete it by finding planets with larger orbits."

Secondly, to find planets orbiting stars lying thousands of light-years away from Earth, WFIRST will use gravitational microlens, a technique that relies on the gravity of stars and planets to bend and magnify the light from the stars that pass behind them, from the point of the telescope. of view.

Penny's study predicts that WFIRST will find 100 exoplanets that could have the same mass or mass less than Earth's. "WFIRST will allow us to find types of planets we have not seen before," says Penny.

NASA began its initial planning for WFIRST in May 2018 and is scheduled for launch in the mid-2020s.

Wishing you a clear sky and big eyes

–

Follow me on Twitter & nbsp;@jamieacarter& nbsp;@TheNextEclipse& nbsp; or read my other articles on Forbes via& nbsp;ma & nbsp; profile page. & nbsp;

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NASA's WFIRST space telescope, currently under design, will give man the largest, deepest, and clearest image of the universe from the Hubble Space Telescope, and could discover up to 1,400 new planets in just 2 square degrees of the night sky, according to new research.

A study by astronomers from Ohio State University and published Feb. 25 in the Astrophysical Journal supplement series reveals that the WFIRST, worth 3.2 billion US dollars, could also help understand the growth of the Universe. Ohio State has been involved in WFIRST since its inception.

In February 2019, the Trump administration had recommended the elimination of WFIRST, referred to as "murderous coup" by some, although it was later reinstated by Congress, which granted NASA a 8% increase in budget.

What is WFIRST?

Abbreviation for Wide Field Geometric Telescope, WFIRST is a space telescope under development by NASA. It was designed to look for three key areas: exoplanets, dark matter / dark energy and the formation of stars and planets.

Unlike space telescopes, which are being launched around the mid-2030s (notably LUVOIR, HabEx, Origins and Lynx), WFIRST is a relatively modest design. It will have the same mirror size as Hubble at 2.4m, but will add a number of incredible improvements that will help spot exoplanets and probe the Universe in infrared, what Hubble can not do.

How is WFIRST different from Hubble?

A wide angle lens on WFIRST will give him 100 times the Hubble field of view, which will essentially allow him to map the Milky Way and other galaxies 100 times faster than Hubble. "We want to know what kind of planetary systems there are," said Matthew Penny, lead author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at the state astronomy department of Ohio. "To do that, you do not just have to look at where the obvious and easy things are, you have to watch everything." WFIRST will do this by performing sensitive near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy, essentially by means of the "Invisible Universe".

How will WFIRST find exoplanets?

First of all, he will photograph them. WFIRST will be equipped with a coronograph, an instrument that blocks direct light from a star so that nearby objects can be seen. Small planets similar to Earth and in orbit close to their host stars should become visible, but the planets that WFIRST is likely to find will be farther from their stars than most of the planets found to date, according to Penny.

The Kepler Space Telescope, which detected more than 2,600 planets out of our solar system, ran out of fuel in October 2018. "Kepler began searching for planets that gravitate around their star, unlike the Earth , "said Penny. "WFIRST will complete it by finding planets with larger orbits."

Secondly, to find planets orbiting stars lying thousands of light-years away from Earth, WFIRST will use gravitational microlens, a technique that relies on the gravity of stars and planets to bend and magnify the light from the stars that pass behind them, from the point of the telescope. of view.

Penny's study predicts that WFIRST will find 100 exoplanets that could have the same mass or mass less than Earth's. "WFIRST will allow us to find types of planets we have never seen before," said Penny.

NASA began its initial planning for WFIRST in May 2018 and is scheduled for launch in the mid-2020s.

Wishing you a clear sky and big eyes

–

Follow me on Twitter @jamieacarter, @TheNextEclipse or read my other articles from Forbes via my profile page.