This Camera Will Search For Other Earths, From One Of The Remotest Places On Our Planet

A new state-of-the-art camera is being installed at the Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets telescope, which will enable scientists to see planets capable of hosting life, or other Earths.

The ASTEP Telescope at the Concordia station in Antarctica is fitted with a new camera that will search for other worlds. (Photo: astep-vo.oca.eu)

New Delhi: Scientists are planning a mission to one of the coldest and most remote places on Earth to enable a new phase in the search for distant planetary systems.
A new state-of-the-art camera is being installed at the Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets (ASTEP) telescope.
This is a new instrument which will enable scientists to see a much wider range of planets orbiting suns outside the Solar System, and will help broaden astronomers' search for planets capable of hosting life, or other Earths, according to a statement issued by the University of Birmingham.

What Will The ASTEP Telescope Do?

The ASTEP telescope measures the slight dips in brightness that occur when a planet passes between Earth and its host star. It detects signals from distant planetary systems using the 'transit' method.
Georgina Dransfield, a PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham, said it is easier to detect smaller planets orbiting these small stars, and hence scientists have a good chance of being able to detect planets of a similar size and temperature to the Earth with the help of this camera.

The New Camera Can Spot The Smallest Stars

The telescope's new camera is sensitive to the reddest wavelengths in the spectrum, and can spot the smallest stars in our galaxy, which are colder, fainter, and therefore redder.
Since the camera has a 'blue' channel, it can see two colours at once. As a result, astronomers will be able to distinguish planetary signals from parasitic signals produced by other astrophysical phenomena. In this way, new planets will be confirmed more rapidly and efficiently.
The University of Birmingham is the only university in the United Kingdom which has access to an optical telescope in Antarctica. The telescope is able to give its best performance due to the cold conditions in Antarctica. 
The temperatures in Concordia reach below minus 80 degrees in winters, and the extreme cold takes away all the moisture and reduces the ambient pressure, making Concordia 10 times drier than the driest desert on Earth, which is the Atacama desert in Chile. All these conditions help the telescope give its best performance, the statement said.
Also, there is a total absence of light pollution, and a near permanent winter night between mid-May and mid-July. This will enable the team to carry out observations continually, and capture rare planetary signals, obtaining the data of which would otherwise be difficult. All these factors make the site where the telescope is located one of the most interesting and productive places in the world to conduct astronomical observations, the statement said.
Amaury Triaud of the University of Birmingham said that Antarctica is a remarkable place to explore space from. During 2020 and 2021, scientists had collected important information such as the detection of a temperate Neptune-sized planet, and a planetary system still in its adolescence. 
Triaud said scientists at the University of Birmingham are excited about the discoveries to be made, with the new camera in place in time for the 2022 observing season.