interferometry Archives - Astrobiology

Exploring Exoplanets with Interferometry -- Keck

Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Exploring Exoplanets with Interferometry

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

(Extract from the Executive Summary) Humanity stands at the threshold of answering one of its most profound questions: Does life exist beyond Earth?

Integration time required for an Earth-twin around a given star to reach an SNR of 7, plotted as a function of stellar parameters. The baseline limits are set at 25-80 m. The LIFE stellar sample is over-plotted in black, and integration time contours are over-plotted in white. Dotted contours show the same integration time contours, but for the 10-100 m case for comparative purposes. Solid horizontal lines show the boundaries between stellar types of F, G, K and M; and dashed horizontal lines show the boundaries between LIFE’s target stellar populations. -- astro-ph.IM

Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

A Preliminary Exploration Of The Effects Of Baseline Length For The LIFE Space Mission

by Keith CowingMay 9, 2026May 9, 2026

By aiming to find and characterise dozens of habitable exoplanets through the technique of nulling interferometry, the LIFE space mission will produce transformational science. One of the key parameters for […]

Example reduced and Fourier-transformed images, showing a MEOW target, WD 0839-327. Left: The image of the WD which is cropped, bad pixel corrected, and multiplied with a super-Gaussian window to suppress pixels far from the PSF center. Right: The Fourier transform is taken and sampled at a grid of regularly-spaced uv coordinates, where phases are extracted and then projected into KPs. -- astro-ph.IM

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

First Demonstration of Kernel Phase Interferometry on JWST/MIRI: Prospects for Future Planet Searches Around Post Main Sequence Stars

by Keith CowingOctober 21, 2025October 21, 2025

Kernel phase interferometry (KPI) is a post-processing technique that treats a conventional telescope as an interferometer by accurately modeling a telescope pupil as an array of virtual subapertures.

False-color combination image, using all four MIRI imaging wavelength bands. For scale, we display the spatial extent of the giant planets in the solar system, highlighting that we are spatially resolving a relatively extended disk component in the ε Eri system. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Epsilon Eridani, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

JWST/MIRI Imaging of the Warm Dust Component of the Epsilon Eridani Debris Disk

by Keith CowingOctober 6, 2025October 6, 2025

We present JWST/MIRI observations of the debris disk surrounding the nearby, solar analog Epsilon Eridani obtained as part of the Archetypal Debris Disk GTO program.

Schematic diagram of a dual field optical interferometer using two telescopes. A beam splitter creates two images of the focal plane, where two fibres are positioned—one on the star to feed Interferometer 1 (serving as the phase reference) and the other on the exoplanet, feeding Interferometer 2. The exoplanet is detected as coherent flux in Interferometer 2, with a phase offset relative to the stellar coherent flux due to an optical path delay δOPD, corresponding to the scalar product of the narrow angle baseline vector B and the angular separation between the star and exoplanet α: δOPD = α · B. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Exoplanets In Reflected Starlight With Dual-field Interferometry: A Case For Shorter Wavelengths And A Fifth Unit Telescope At VLTI/Paranal

by Keith CowingJune 13, 2024June 13, 2024

The direct observation of cold and temperate planets within 1 to 10 AU would be extremely valuable for uncovering their atmospheric compositions but remains a formidable challenge with current astronomical […]

The location of VLBA primary calibrators (green dots) and the secondary targets (blue dots) overplotted on exoplanet detections in the Kepler field. J1926+4441 is shown in red. -- astro-ph.IM

Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, SETI & Technosignatures, Status Report

An Interferometric SETI Observation Of Kepler-111 b

by Keith CowingMay 3, 2023May 3, 2023

The application of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been limited to date, despite the technique offering many advantages over traditional single-dish SETI […]

Detecting

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Beta Pictoris, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Detecting Planetary Mass Companions Near The Water Frost-line Using JWST Interferometry

by Keith CowingNovember 21, 2022January 14, 2024

JWST promises to be the most versatile infrared observatory for the next two decades. The Near Infrared and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument, when used in the Aperture Masking Interferometry (AMI) […]

Broadband

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Broadband Vortex Fiber Nulling: High-dispersion Exoplanet Science At The Diffraction Limit

by Keith CowingNovember 1, 2022November 1, 2022

As the number of confirmed exoplanets continues to grow, there is an increased push to spectrally characterize them to determine their atmospheric composition, formation paths, rotation rates, and habitability.