The European Southern Observatory, an international research organization implementing the most advanced astronomical projects, plans to turn one of its gigantic and very powerful telescopes into an even more powerful tool for searching exoplanets. Specifically, this is the Very Large Telescope (VLT) located in northern Chile. Modernization of the telescope will improve the search for exoplanets around the stars of the constellation Centaurus - the nearest star system to us.
Located a little more than 4 light years away from us, Alpha Centauri's triple star system, according to scientists, may be the home of inhabited planets unseen by now. If such worlds really exist, the European Southern Observatory is confident that the VLT telescope will be able to directly detect them after its main tools have the necessary updates.
For help in collecting the necessary funds for modernization, the Observatory turned to the initiative research group Breakthrough Initiatives, created under the program proposed by Russian businessman Yury Milner in 2015 and aimed at finding extraterrestrial civilizations. The Breakthrough Initiatives group itself is also very interested in studying this system and is even going to send an unmanned spacecraft there during this generation. The project, called Breakthrough Starshot, involves sending a tiny device to Alpha Centauri using a very powerful ground-based laser. Theoretically, the photons of this powerful laser will be able to accelerate a tiny spacecraft to 1/5 of the speed of light, which will allow it to reach the desired destination in just 20 years.
In other words, it is not surprising that the Breakthrough Initiatives are very interested in finding planets within the Alpha Centauri system, since their discovery will automatically make them excellent targets for the Breakthrough Starshot project. Currently, astronomers are aware of the presence of only one planet in this system. Last year, a small Earth-like planet was discovered near the star Proxima Centauri (which is the smallest star in the system and the closest star object to our system). The object, called Prokyma b, is very interested in scientists, as it is located in the so-called habitable zone of its star. We are talking about the region of the system, where water can exist in liquid form on the surfaces of the planets. Since water is a critical component of the emergence and maintenance of life here on Earth, it would be foolish to deny the possibility that its presence on other planets could play the same role.
Alpha Centauri system
Updating the VLT telescope, which will require a couple of years to complete, will be primarily focused on upgrading VISIR scientific equipment. This tool is used to search and monitor objects in the mid-IR range - a type of radiation that cannot be distinguished with the naked eye, but is also associated with heat generated by various space objects. Tracking and searching for planets in the visible spectrum can be a very difficult task, since the intensity of starlight is so great that it blocks the light emitted by the planets themselves. Observing such objects in the mid-IR range makes it possible to reduce the large difference in the brightness of a star and a planet and note the presence of the latter.
And yet the stars remain very bright even when they are observed in the mid-IR range. That is why the VISIR tool requires an additional update to make it sensitive enough to detect planets near two stars - Alpha Centauri A and B - in terms of luminosity equivalent to solar. VISIR for these purposes will receive a new sensor and an update that will allow it to use the method of coronary angiography. Thanks to him, you can block a greater amount of luminosity of a star, in order to better see the planets near it. In addition, the instrument will acquire a new “calibration device”, which will help make telescope observations even more accurate. Once the telescope has been upgraded, the European Southern Observatory will provide access to the VLT group Breakthrough Initiatives, which will monitor the Alpha Centauri system. This is expected to occur in 2019.
Of course, the search for possible planets in Alpha Centauri is only the first step towards exploring this system, and there may be hiding many equally interesting secrets. Or perhaps astronomers will not find anything at all or will find planets that are not in the habitable zones of these stars. In addition, the discovery of a planet in the habitable zone of a star does not necessarily guarantee that this world is capable of supporting life. For example, the same exoplanet Proxima b is so close to its star Proxima Centauri that the radiation of the latter actually sterilizes one of its sides.
Again, the idea of visiting one of these worlds does not seem to be such an easy task, and from the current point of view it is even more fantastic. The Breakthrough Starshot project needs to overcome so many difficulties and solve so many questions that the flight to Alpha Centauri seems so far unlikely, at least in our time. For example, according to recent studies, the same interstellar gas and dust can very quickly disorient a tiny spacecraft moving at 1/5 of the speed of light.
Nevertheless, big stakes are at stake, so the European Southern Observatory is very grateful for the help in financing the modernization of its telescope.
“The probability that we will find a planet (or planets) there is less than 50 percent. That is, in other words, the probability of detection is much lower than the probability of detection. Usually, under these conditions, funding agencies are not ready to invest in such projects, but thanks to the Breakthrough Initiatives project we were able to get all the necessary funds and resources for our research. ”
The article is based on materials .
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