In the News, two new ways to detect exoplanets using
imaging technologies. This is in addition to existing stellar wobble or stellar brightness variations (due to transiting or lensing), techniques:
Imaging the planet-sized companion of a nearby star
This technique uses a new infrared camera called "Clio" that takes advantage of angular resolution. Worked to image an exoplanet 50 lightyears distant. They imaged the planet, measured the flux and from that derived its temperature and mass.
Planet hunters no longer blinded by the light
The second item uses an Apodizing Phase Plate, (APP - a piece of interference patterned infrared optical glass), which allows cancellation of the star's halo in order to separate an exoplanet inside 5~20 AUs from its host star. It worked to image 'Beta Pictoris b', a planet about seven to 10 times the mass of Jupiter, around its parent star, Beta Pictoris, 63 light years away.
Pretty neat technologies - just the beginning, I suspect.
Cheers
