http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/02/extreme-exoplanet-hunter/
February 23, 2013 - Wired.com
The search for exoplanets is about reach the next level with the
Gemini Planet Imager, a new smart-car-sized telescope instrument that
will use “extreme” adaptive optics to directly see distant planets
around other stars.
Most large telescopes on Earth use adaptive optics — mirrors that
wiggle a thousand times a second — to compensate for distortion from the
atmosphere that causes the familiar “twinkling” effect of stars. With
the technology, fuzzy globs of starlight are transformed into sharp
pinpoints. GPI will take the method a step farther, using a mirror made
from advanced silicon microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) instead of
glass.
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