New Telescope Aims to Find Life in Planets Around the Alpha Centauri

Isabella James, Tech Times 16 November 2021, 07:11 pm

A new telescope has been unveiled and it aims to find life in the planets around the star system known as the Alpha Centauri.

The telescope, which has been named TOLIMAN, can be launched into space by the mid-2020s.

The Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to our own sun. It is made up of three stars, including a red dwarf. This red dwarf, known as the Proxima Centauri, is believed to have at least two exoplanets.

New Telescope Aims to Find Life in Alpha Centauri

A new telescope has been unveiled and it can be launched to space sometime in the mid-2020s in order to look for signs of life in the star system that is closest to the sun.

According to a report by Space, the new space telescope has been named TOLIMAN that is "fitted with a so-called diffractive pupil lens that spreads starlight into a flowerlike pattern."

"This unique lens will make it easier for astronomers using the scope to detect tiny irregularities in a stars' movements that are usually caused by the gravitational influence of orbiting planets," the report adds.

The TOLIMAN got its name from the Arabic-derived name of the Alpha Centauri, the star system it will eventually explore in order to search for signs of life.

The name also stands for Telescope for Orbit Locus Interferometric Monitoring of our Astronomical Neighbourhood, according to a statement by Breakthrough Initiatives, who is funding the mission.

The mission that will eventually launch the new telescope to space aims to find out "if planets capable of supporting life exist" in the Alpha Centauri, according to Breakthrough Initiatives' Executive Director Pete Worden.

The Alpha Centauri

(Photo : ESA/NASA)

The Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to our own sun and is the closest star system to the Solar System in general.

According to the report by Space, this star system is located only four light-years away from Earth. It is made up of three stars and it is said that two of them are similar to the sun.

Per an article by EarthSky, these two stars are known as Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman. They are also known as Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, respectively.

Rigil Kentaurus is described by the EarthSky article as a yellowish star that is slightly bigger than our sun, while the Toliman is half as bright as the sun and is more orange in color. Both stars are said to be around five to six billion years in age, making them older than the sun.

The third star is a red dwarf known as Proxima Centauri. This red dwarf is said to have at least two exoplanets. According to Space, one of these is believed to be similar to Earth.

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Written by Isabella James