SETI, the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence, started in 1959 when Giuseppe Cocconi and Phil Morrison (then both at Cornell) realized that radio communications between nearby stars was indeed possible even with the modest radio telescopes (30 meters in diameter) then available.
No ET Civilization was discovered up to 2025, but the amount of searched space is very small indeed.
By...
The Planetary Camera and Spectrograph (PCS) for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is a new instrument proposed for the direct detection and characterization of exoplanets in the neighbourhood of the Sun. This goal is achieved by a combination of eXtreme Adaptive Optics (XAO), coronagraphy and spectroscopy.
PCS will allow to gather both images and high-resolution spectra, allowing the...
The atmospheric characterisation of nearby rocky exoplanets will soon become achievable thanks to the next generation of telescopes, such as the ground-based Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and the proposed space mission Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO).
This powerful synergy between ground- and space-based facilities will open new frontiers in the study of exoplanet atmospheres by...
MAVIS (MCAO Assisted Visible Imager and Spectrograph) is a new facility instrument for the ESO VLT being built by an Australian (Astralis - lead), Italian (INAF) and French (LAM) consortium. MAVIS pushes the frontier of new instrument technologies to provide, for the first time, wide-field, diffraction-limited angular resolution at visible wavelengths. Enhancing the VLT Adaptive Optics...
