![Schematic diagram of the simulated architecture. It includes the segmented primary mirror, an APLC coronagraph with an apodizer, a focal plane mask and a Lyot stop, two deformable mirrors, and an out-of-band and a low-order Zernike wavefront sensor. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/JWST-telemetry.png?resize=1200%2C712&ssl=1)
[astro-ph.IM] We provide a quantification of the technological gap between the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) for the goal of exo-Earth imaging around Sun-like […]
astro-ph.IM
![Overview of the optical design of the testbed, which features an AO module, a coronagraph module, and ample space for science cameras and visitor experiments. Abbreviations: CDM: Coronagraphic DM, DM: Deformable Mirror, FM: Fold Mirror, (F/L)LOWFS: focal-plane/Lyot-stop low-order wavefront sensor, OAP: Off-Axis Parabola, PSM: PupilSteering Mirror, TS: Turbulence Simulator -[astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/NEXT.png?resize=1200%2C714&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
NEXT: The Netherlands EXoplanet Testbed I. Goals And opto-mechanical Design
[astro-ph.IM] We report on the goals, design, and ongoing development of the Netherlands EXoplanet Testbed (NEXT), a high-contrast imaging testbed under construction in Leiden.
![Early draft of a possible layout for the MPIA to test the Bertin-Alpao 13k DM. Key components are numbered and described in the text. This version makes use of polarization components to simplify the number of optical elements. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Development.png?resize=1200%2C712&ssl=1)
Posted inUncategorized
Development Of An Adaptive Optics Testbed At MPIA For The ELT/Planetary Camera And Spectrograph (PCS)
[astro-ph.IM] The Planetary Camera and Spectrograph (PCS) is a proposed second-generation instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), dedicated to the direct imaging and characterization of exoplanets.
![LOCO-CV predicted vs DFT binding energies for 13 adsorbate species on ASW12 clusters. Each point represents a single adsorbate–surface configuration, coloured by species identity; asterisks denote radical species. Pooled metrics across all leave-one-cluster-out folds: R2 = 0.896, RMSE = 574 K, MAE = 378 K. -- [astro-ph.GA]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/AstroBind.png?resize=1200%2C715&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry
AstroBind: Machine Learning Prediction Of Binding Energy Distributions On Interstellar Water Ice From Geometric Surface Descriptors
[astro-ph.GA] Binding energies on amorphous solid water regulate molecular desorption in molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks, but computing them from first principles across the heterogeneous binding sites of disordered ice […]
![The PM showing the mounted SHAPE instrument (left) along with the zoomed in view (right). Three major sub-systems are also marked. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Shaping-SHAPE.png?resize=1200%2C714&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Shaping SHAPE – A Spectro-polarimeter Onboard Chandrayaan-3 To Observe Earth As An Exoplanet
[astro-ph.IM] Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) is an experimental instrument onboard the Propulsion Module (Orbiter) of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, designed to perform disc-integrated spectro-polarimetric observations of Earth from lunar […]
Posted inSETI & Technosignatures
The VLA and High-Frequency SETI: Expanding The Search for Life
[astro-ph.IM] The Commensal Open-Source Multimode Interferometer Cluster (COSMIC) runs software that searches for technologies elsewhere in the Universe (“technosignatures”) using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). Specifically, it […]
![Mapping of the science cases proposed by the Science Working Groups (center) to the questions and discovery areas identified by Astro2020 (left and right). The transparencies of the lines indicate the number of connections with darker lines indicating stronger links between the SWG and the Astro2020 topic. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Early-Exploration.png?resize=1200%2C711&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Early Exploration Of The Scientific Discovery Space For The Habitable Worlds Observatory
[astro-ph.IM] The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is a future NASA flagship mission concept identified by the Astro2020 Decadal Survey as the highest priority for large space missions. HWO should conduct […]
![CAD layout of the MANTIS spacecraft showing how the instrument unit and spacecraft unit are distinct, with a single 37-pin micro-D connector between the two. This is a significant reduction in complexity to prior CU-LASP CubeSats where the instrument and spacecraft by necessity are integrated. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Optomechanical.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inCubesats and smallsats
Optomechanical Design of the MANTIS SmallSat: An Extreme-, Far- and Near-Ultraviolet Spectrograph for Exoplanet Host Stars
[astro-ph.IM] The MANTIS (Monitoring Activity of Nearby sTars with uv Imaging and Spectroscopy) observatory is a compact, multi-instrument small satellite designed for simultaneous extreme- (EUV; 100 – 560 Angstrom), far- […]
![Life 2.0 mission concept and simulated biosignature spectroscopy. The distributed array observes a common target with many one-meter telescope modules. The example spectra illustrate UV-optical atmospheric signatures and the simulated recovery of O₃, O₂, and H₂O after calibrated spectral co-addition. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Life-2.0.jpg?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Life 2.0: A Scalable Distributed Space-Telescope Array For Biosignature Spectroscopy
[astro-ph.IM] Answering the question “Are we alone?” requires atmospheric spectroscopy of nearby terrestrial planets. For an Earth–Sun analog, even the strongest transmission signals are expected to be of order 1 […]
![(a) The HWK4123 sensor has a standard ceramic land grid array (CGLA) package and measures 31.1 × 36.6 mm. The imaging pixel array is in the center of the sensor. (b) The PHOTRON system is shown outside the dewar. The HWK4123 mounts behind the black enclosure in the top-left corner. (c) The QUEST camera attaches to the output of an integrating sphere, and the sphere receives light from a monochromator. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Single-Photon.png?resize=1200%2C704&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Single-Photon Counting CMOS Detectors For The Habitable Worlds Observatory
[astro-ph.IM] The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is NASA’s current New Great Observatory concept. HWO will observe the universe to search for life beyond Earth. It will need unprecedented instrument stability […]