Both the Hubble telescope and NASA’s Kepler spacecraft have been key in the search for planets outside the solar system. And what they’ve already found might even be habitable (some form of life, definitely). However, Hubble is already an old man, 20 years old and his technology is outdated. Kepler has already lost two positioning wheels and may already be done. Fortunately, an international team of astronomers is working on the E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope).
Lasers designed for the E-ELT will allow it to search for planets with greater accuracy than ever before. Current telescopes usually look for planets using variations in light – variations usually indicate a planet is passing a star. E-ELT will be able to detect even subtle changes that existing telescopes cannot see. New lasers will use infrared light to detect even tiny changes, allowing astronomers to observe smaller planets, including those the size of Earth or Mars. Current telescopes seeing only large planets with a circumference the size of Jupiter.
The E-ELT lasers will also be able to detect farther planets as well as observe the early stages of planetary evolution. The E-ELT telescope will be able to map the presence of water and other building blocks of life on exoplanets, perhaps even pinpoint the presence of life forms on them.
A team of Scottish scientists recently received a large grant to start building lasers for the E-ELT telescope. E-ELT will begin its hunt for exoplanets within the next 10 years.
Although the telescope is called the European Extremely Large Telescope, its location will not be in Europe, but in Chile.
