2003-07-25 | TECHNOLOGIES
Tiny Measurement Gives Big Boost to Planet Hunt

The search for life outside of our solar system has driven astronomers to scan the skies for planets orbiting distant stars. More than 100 extrasolar planets have been discovered thus far, yet all of them are gas giants thought to be incapable of supporting life. What astronomers are really searching for are planets that resemble our own Earth.

Planets orbiting other stars are too dim to be observed directly, but scientists infer their presence by the tiny gravitational "wobble" they induce in their parent stars. The smaller the planet, the smaller the 'wobble', and to detect planets as small as Earth, scientists need an instrument that is almost unbelievably sensitive. After six years of development, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories have come up with an answer. Researchers working on the Microarcsecond Metrology Testbed, a component of the Space Interferometry Mission, have proven that they can measure the movements of stars with a degree of accuracy never before achieved in human history.

Searching for habitable planets outside of our solar system is a primary goal of astrobiology.

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