Eliminating stars

1999/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

Astronomers are currently able to detect planets from other star systems by analyzing their gravitational influence on the star. The great planets alter the behavior of the star and, although they cannot be seen, it can be known that they are there. The next step would be to obtain images of these planets, but so far it has been impossible, since the strong light of the star does not allow to see the light reflected by the planet. Seeing the distant stellar system would be like distinguishing light from the lighthouse 100 kilometers from the poxpolo light that is next to it (which can not be done with the current technique).

B. B. Standford University 1978 Bracewell found a solution to this problem. He discovered that with Secondary Optics, the light of the star could be removed by two mirrors, revealing the light of the planet. If the light of the star is reflected in two mirrors located in different positions, the light coming from a mirror makes a longer path than the one that comes through the other, and when the two rays join the top of a luminous signal and the valley of the other, eliminating the signal. This mechanism is called Eliminator Interferometer and could not be tested until September last year. A team from the University of Arizona has managed to eliminate 95% of the known three-star infrared signal. In the images obtained can be distinguished the gas cloud that constitutes the core of the star.