en en en en en en tr en en en da en de en de en de en de en de en en en tr en it en es en es en fr en fr en fr en it en it en hu en nl en nl en is en pl en pt en pt en sq en hbs_lat en fi en sv en tr en is en cs en ru en fy en en is pt is is is en es nl sk it nl sv nl pl is is is es en hbs_lat en ceb is en en en en en is en en en is is is is is is is is is is en is nb nb en is is is de is cs is es ru es nb is en es es en en is de is en cs la es is is es is is id de is eo et ceb is is nn is is is nb is is is en en en en fr fr fr fr en fr en fr fr is en en is nb nb is de is pt cs la tr is is es is is is is id de eo et ceb is nn is is is is en en en is is en en en en en fr fr fr fr en en fr en fr fr fr fr fr en en fr de de fr en it fr fr en it en en en en en en en en en is en en en en fr fr fr fr en fr en es is hbs_lat is is is hbs_lat et en de hbs_lat is en hbs_lat gl is is is is da en en sv is en de is is en en is es hbs_lat en is et is is hbs_lat fi fi is is fi is is is en en da en ca it it hbs_lat en en en en en es fr fr en en pt de en it it en hbs_lat es en en en ceb hu cs et en jv is nb it es en en sv is tt da la sv en vi en en hu ro en ca it sv is en en hbs_lat nl de sv en en ja nl kn en en en en ca es eo nl it it en en en fr en en hbs_lat en ca en en en en en fr hbs_lat hbs_lat en en nl en hbs_lat en en en hbs_lat en en is fr is hbs_lat en hbs_lat cs en en hbs_lat en en en fr hbs_lat is de it pt en en la fr eo en war nb pl en fr en bn fr it sl cy cs ceb cs nb en es is en en it en en eo es en nb en en en is is is en nb en en is hu is en en ja de is en is en en en en pt en en en en is en en en en en en en en en en en fr is is is sv es tr en is is is en is is is is en en is is is is en is en en en en en en de de en is is war en es et is en lt fr fr en en en fr en en nb is cs is is en en en en en is ceb en en en en en en en en en en en en is is en en fr en en en gl is is ca en is is en is en fi is cs is sv is is is en en en en is ceb hbs_lat is en en es en en cs uz en en sv en en is en en fi is en en fr en en gl is is is is en de is is et en es is en en en en is en en en en en is en en hu en en hbs_lat is is en en en is en is is is es is is is is is en en fr en hbs_lat en en en is en en en en en en fr en en en en en en en en da en en en it cs fr ca la en en en en en en en en en en eo en nl en es en en en en en en en en en it en en en en is en en es en en es en es es en en en en en en da en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en eo es en fr en en en en en pt en de mk en es en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en it en en oc en la es en it en en en en en en en en en en en pl en en en en en uk en en fi en fr en en es en it tt en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en it en en en en en en en en en en en en en de en fr en da en en en en en en en en en en en is en en is
ESOblog - Shooting for the Stars | ESO Ísland
By continuing to use this website, you are giving consent to our use of cookies.
For more information on how ESO uses data and how you can disable cookies, please view our privacy policy.
ESO, Stjörnustöð Evrópulanda á suðurhveli
Prof. H. van der Laan
Public Visits to the ALMA OSF
Large JPG Zip File (1.9 GB)
Original TIF Zip File (32.9 GB)
Notkun á myndum og myndskeiðum ESO
Subtitles and translations for ESO videos
Usage of ESO Videos and Images
Fríar pantanir fyrir kennara og fjölmiðla
Swiss 1.2-metre Leonhard Euler Telescope
TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope–South
Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires
ESO 1,52 metra sjónaukinn
Boller and Chivens Spectrograph
ESO 1 metra sjónaukinn
ESO 0,5 metra sjónaukinn
MarLy 1 metra sjónaukinn
Hollenski 0,9 metra sjónaukinn
Bochum 0,61 metra sjónaukinn
Danski 0,5 metra sjónaukinn
Grand Prisme Objectif sjónaukinn
Svissneski 0,4 metra sjónaukinn
Merseille 0,36 metra sjónaukinn
HIRES (Phase A completed)
MOSAIC (Phase A completed)
Companies working on the ELT
Tíu helstu uppgötvanir ESO
Black Hole at the Centre of our Galaxy
Open House Day 2018
Open House Day 2017
Open House Day 2016
Long Night of Science 2015
Open House Day 2014
Café & Kosmos í München
Open House Day 2013
Registration, Fees and Payment
ESO í 50 ár
Hápunktar í 50 ár
Europe to the Stars
50 years of ESO in Chile
Alþjóðlegt ár stjörnufræðinnar 2009
IMAX® Þrívíddarmyndin Hidden Universe
Open House Day 2011
Open House Day 2009 (German)
Long Night of Science 2007
Open House Day 2006
List of Prize Winners
ESO í 40 ár (1962 - 2002)
EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF)
Total Solar Eclipse 2019
The Comet McNaught 2007
Deep Impact - 04.07.2005
The Venus Transit - 08.11.2004
The Leonids - 17.11.1999
Solar Eclipse at ESO HQ - 11.08.1999
The Leonids - 11.1998
Mars Pathfinder - 1997
Comet Hyakutake - 1997
SL-9 and Jupiter - 1994
Comet Hale Bopp - 1994
Málstofur um miðlun stjarnvísinda
ESO Astronomy Camp 2017
ESO Astronomy Camp 2016
ESO Astronomy Camp 2015
ESO Astronomy Camp 2014
Catch a Star 2013
Catch a Star 2011
Catch a Star 2008
Catch a Star 2007
Catch a Star 2005
Catch a Star 2004
Catch a Star 2003
Catch a Star 2002
Life in the Universe
ESO Science Outreach Network
ESO Outreach Partner Organization
Skráningaform fyrir Outreach Newsletter
Taking the First Picture of a Black Hole
Upplýsingar um miðlun stjarnvísinda
European Astronomy Journalism Prize
Technology Developed by Industries
Novel technologies by ESO
Working with the ELT
Umferð og bílastæði hjá ESO
Local Staff Members (Spanish / English)
How to use this site
×Close Afsakaðu! Þessi síða er ekki til á þínu tungumáli, svo við sýnum upprunalegu útgáfuna í staðinn.
Behind the scenes at ESO: Showing you the road to the stars
Shooting for the Stars
ESO’s role in the revolutionary Breakthrough Initiatives
What you’ll discover in this blog post:
What the Breakthrough Initiatives are
How ESO is upgrading the VLT to search for habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri system
The challenges of searching for exoplanets
Our fragile blue planet circles a star that is just one of hundreds of billions in our galaxy — which itself is just one stellar neighbourhood in a vast Universe of at least a hundred billion more. Astronomers, science fiction writers and the public alike have all long wondered: Are we alone in the cosmos? ESO recently joined the search for habitable worlds around other stars in collaboration with the Breakthrough Initiatives, a large-scale science programme to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. We chatted to Markus Kasper, ESO exoplanet expert, to learn more.
Very Large Telescope Interferometer
Q: Markus, how did you come to be involved in the Breakthrough Initiatives?
A: The Breakthrough Initiatives are a suite of scientific and technological programmes dedicated to probing the questions of life in the Universe. In 2015, back before ESO was officially involved, I was invited to join the committee of one of these programmes: Breakthrough Watch (BTW). The objective of BTW is to look for ways to find habitable exoplanets within a five parsec (16 light-year) search radius from Earth.
To me, this is the most interesting science goal in modern astronomy
To me, this is the most interesting science goal in modern astronomy, because these planets will be sufficiently nearby for the Breakthrough Starshot probes to get there on a reasonable timescale. Breakthrough Starshot is another branch of the initiatives, which aims to design and build ultra-fast, light-driven nano-spacecraft to send to the Alpha Centauri system. This is the closest star system to Earth at just four light-years away, consisting of the binary stars Alpha Centauri A and B, plus Proxima Centauri. But we need to find habitable planets in this system first!
Q: Why are the Breakthrough Initiatives happening now? Why is this the right moment?
A: Recent years have brought a wealth of exciting exoplanet discoveries, and we now know that the presence of rocky planets in the habitable zone of a star is the rule rather than an exception. For example, ESO instruments have very recently discovered potentially habitable planets orbiting some of our nearest neighbours like Proxima Centauri and Ross 128. With the emerging class of extremely large telescopes currently under construction, the detection of biosignatures in the atmospheres of nearby exoplanets — gases like oxygen or methane that might indicate past or present life — will be within reach during the next decade, so now is the perfect time to find these exciting planets.
This artist’s impression shows a view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image.
Q: Tell us more about how Breakthrough Watch will achieve its goals.
A: A big problem in exoplanet discovery is that stars are incredibly bright in comparison to their planets, and so habitable planets are hard to detect. But at mid-infrared wavelengths, between 10 and 20 microns, habitable planets become much brighter and are easier to find — between 10 and 12.5 microns, the Earth is actually the brightest planet in the Solar System.
We could detect a habitable planet in just 100 hours of observing time
During the initial meetings of the BTW committee, we identified thermal imaging with 8-metre ground-based telescopes — such as ESO’s Very Large Telescope — as one of the best short-term opportunities to search for Earth-sized, rocky planets in the Alpha Centauri system. In 2016 ESO signed an agreement with Breakthrough Initiatives to follow through with this plan. Agreements for similar efforts with other large observatories (such as Gemini and Magellan) are being considered as well.
ESO’s goal with NEAR (New Earths in the Alpha cen Region) is to improve the contrast and sensitivity of the existing Very Large Telescope instrument VISIR (VLT Imager and Spectrometer for mid-Infrared) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The proximity of Alpha Centauri means that we could detect a habitable planet in just 100 hours of observing time on the VLT.
Every day, before the observations start, each telescope of the VLT undergoes a complete start-up during which each of its function is checked, like a plane before take off. Here, VISIR is visible at the Cassegrain focus of UT3.
Q: What technology is being developed to make these observations?
A: There are three main areas of technological innovation in the NEAR project. Firstly, Adaptive Optics (AO) will be used to improve the point source sensitivity of VISIR. The AO will be implemented by ESO, building on the newly-available deformable secondary mirror at the VLT’s Unit Telescope 4 (UT4).
Secondly, a team led by the University of Liège (Belgium), Uppsala University (Sweden) and Caltech (USA) will develop a novel vortex coronagraph to provide a very high imaging contrast at small angular separations. This is necessary because even when we look at a star system in the mid-infrared, the star itself is still millions of times brighter than the planets we want to detect, so we need a dedicated technique to reduce the star’s light. A coronagraph can achieve this.
Finally, a module containing the wavefront sensor and a new internal chopping device for detector calibration will be built by our contractor Kampf Telescope Optics in Munich.
This image shows the closest stellar system to the Sun: the bright double star Alpha Centauri AB and its faint companion Proxima Centauri.
Credit: ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)/Digitized Sky Survey 2 Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin/Mahdi Zamani
Glistening against the awesome backdrop of the night sky above ESO’s Paranal Observatory, four laser beams project out into the darkness from Unit Telescope 4 (UT4) of the VLT.
Q: What challenges do you expect to face?
A: Generally, moving an instrument to a different telescope (in this case, we are moving VISIR from UT3 to UT4) is never a small task, especially for the operations staff at the observatory. An additional challenge is that we have to make NEAR work at its best with a fixed deadline and with sparse resources. The performance goals are very demanding and require one part in a million contrast at less than one arcsecond separation — which is a challenge similar to detecting a firefly sitting on a lighthouse lamp from a few hundred kilometres away! This has not yet been demonstrated in the thermal infrared.
Q: How long will these first big developments take?
A: The testing of the hardware in Europe is taking place now, during the first half of 2018. It will be implemented in VISIR at Paranal by end of 2018. The Alpha Centauri observing campaign is scheduled for mid-2019 and will last for about two weeks to collect the required 100 hours of observation time, once the system is delivering the expected performance.
Q: What exactly is your role in the project?
A: The work on NEAR is carried out by a small and highly motivated core team at ESO, in collaboration with engineers and scientists from various institutions and countries who are part of the ESO community, as well as industrial partners. My personal role, besides making the link to the Breakthrough Initiatives as a representative, is quite diverse. I mostly work on the design and analysis of the instrumental modifications, but I also develop the concepts for optimum observing and exploitation of the campaign data.
Q: For you, what is the most exciting aspect of this endeavour?
A: Besides the fascinating science goals, it is exciting to see how the Breakthrough Initiatives are managing to create momentum in the research field. By backing ideas and projects with a higher risk level than public funding agencies are ready to support, the Initiatives have motivated scientists to push the envelope and leap forward in their research. The Breakthrough Listen branch, for example, searches the sky for radio and laser signals emitted by intelligent beings over a volume in space that is orders of magnitudes larger than what has previously been observed.
By backing high-risk ideas and projects, the Initiatives have motivated scientists to push the envelope and leap forward in their research
Q: What hopes do you have for the outcomes of the Breakthrough Initiatives?
A: I am quite optimistic that we’ll achieve our technical and sensitivity goals with NEAR. Of course, we do not know whether the planets we are looking for actually exist in the Alpha Centauri system. The fact that Alpha Centauri A and B are a relatively close binary may make it more difficult for planets to have formed and exist in the system. The chances are hard to quantify, but if we detected a habitable planet in the Alpha Centauri system it would have incredible impacts even beyond astronomical science — which makes it worth looking anyway.
And identifying such planets isn’t even the biggest challenge on the cards. Once we know what’s out there, Breakthrough Starshot will aim for in-situ exploration of these systems using microsatellites, which is a whole new technological ball game!
Numbers in this article
Distance to the Alpha Centauri system in light-years
The search radius of the Breakthrough Watch initiative, in light-years
The estimated hours of observing time at the VLT needed to make a detection of a habitable planet in the Alpha Centauri system
The year ESO signed an agreement with the Breakthrough Initiatives
Press release: VLT to Search for Planets in Alpha Centauri System
Article in the Messenger: NEAR: Low-mass Planets in a Cen with VISIR
Learn more about ESO’s VLT
Markus Kasper studied physics at the Universities of Frankfurt am Main and Heidelberg. He worked on Adaptive Optics wavefront reconstruction and star formation during his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in the late 1990s. Since then, he has worked at ESO in Garching, Germany, as an engineer and scientist at the interface between AO instrumentation and astronomical science, specialising in high-contrast imaging and the observation of exoplanets.
Science Snapshots showcases quirky or interesting scientific results using ESO telescopes from the larger scientific community. Find more interviews with astronomers and stories about astronomical research at ESO here on the ESOblog.
Segðu okkur þitt álit!
Subscribe to receive news from ESO in your language