The new tool may just revolutionize how we explore space beyond our solar system.
Using the Sun to examine faraway worlds
“We want to take pictures of planets that are orbiting other stars that are as good as the pictures we can make of planets in our own solar system,” saidBruce Macintosh, a physics professor at the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford and deputy director of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology .
How would the new telescope capture such images? Through a process called gravitational lensing that was first observed in 1919 during a solar eclipse. At the time, the moon obstructed the light from the sun, allowing scientists to see stars near the sun offset from their known positions.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more: