Custom-made 'astrocomb' tool to help scientists hunt for exoplanets, alien life

The comb can help detect Earth-like planets 10 times more accurately than previously possible. The custom-made frequency comb developed by researchers from National Institute of Standards and Technology’s in the US provides the precision needed for discovering and characterising planets that orbit red dwarf stars. Hundreds of exoplanets have been discovered using star wobble analysis, but a planet with a mass similar to that of Earth and orbiting at just the right distance from a star — in the so-called “Goldilocks zone” — is hard to detect with conventional technology. Data collected by the team show the astrocomb will make it possible to detect Earth-mass planets that cause colour shifts equivalent to a star wobble of about one metre per second — at least 10 times better than previously achieved in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. While the idea of using frequency combs to aid planet discovery has generated a lot of interest around the world, NIST’s astrocomb is the first in operation at near-infrared wavelengths, researchers said.