NASA Takes Giant Step Toward Finding Earth-Like Planets

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Jane Platt (818) 354-0880
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

News Release: 2005-157 Sept. 29, 2005

NASA Takes Giant Step Toward Finding Earth-Like Planets

Are we alone in the universe? Are there planets like Earth
around other "suns" that might harbor life? Thanks to a recent
technology breakthrough on a key NASA planet-finding project,
the dream of answering those questions is no longer light-years
away.

On a crystal clear, star-filled night at Hawaii's Keck
Observatory in Mauna Kea, NASA engineers successfully suppressed
the blinding light of three stars, including the well-known Vega,
by 100 times. This breakthrough will enable scientists to detect
the dim dust disks around stars, where planets might be forming.
Normally the disks are obscured by the glare of the starlight.

Engineers accomplished this challenging feat with the Keck
Interferometer, which links the observatory's two 10-meter
(33-feet) telescopes. By combining light from the telescopes,
the Keck Interferometer has a resolving power equivalent to a
football-field sized telescope. The "technological touchdown"
of blocking starlight was achieved by adding an instrument
called a "nuller."

This setup may eventually help scientists select targets for
NASA's envisioned Terrestrial Planet Finder missions. The
success of those potential future missions, one observing in
visible light and one in infrared, depends on being able to find
Earth-like planets in the dust rings around stars.

"We have proven that the Keck Interferometer can block light
from nearby stars, which will allow us to survey the amount of
dust around them," said Dr. James Fanson, project manager for
the Keck Interferometer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
That survey will begin in late 2006 after the team refines the
nuller's sensitivity level.

Combined information from all of NASA's planet-hunting missions
will provide a complete picture of possible Earth-like planets:
how big they are, whether they are warm enough for life, and if
their atmospheres and surfaces show chemical signatures of
current life.

"People have been talking about whether there are other earths
out there for 2,500 years. Only now are we developing the
technology to go find out," said Michael Devirian, manager of
NASA's Navigator Program at JPL, which is investigating
potential planet-exploring missions.

So far, scientists around the world have found 150 planets
orbiting other stars. Most are giants, like Jupiter; none is
as small as Earth. Scientists believe the best odds of finding
life outside our solar system are on Earth-sized planets,
particularly those with the right temperature, density and
chemistry.

More information on NASA's planet-finding missions, including
the Keck Interferometer and Terrestrial Planet Finder is at

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov .

JPL manages the Keck Interferometer and the Terrestrial Planet
Finder missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena. The W.M. Keck Observatory is funded
by California Institute of Technology, the University of
California and NASA, and is managed by the California
Association for Research in Astronomy, Kamuela, Hawaii.

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