As part of an international team of exoplanets hunters, astronomers
at the UA are developing a technique to detect faint dust clouds around other
stars, many of which might hide Earth-like planets.
If one looks only for the shiniest pennies in the fountain,
chances are one misses most of the coins because they shimmer less brightly.
This, in a nutshell, is the conundrum astronomers face when searching for
Earth-like planets outside our solar system.
Astronomers at the University of Arizona are part of an
international team of exoplanets hunters developing new technology that would
dramatically improve the odds of discovering planets with conditions suitable
for life – such as having liquid water on the surface.