Unveiled Telescope Shape Breakthrough: New Rectangular Instrument May Detect 25 Likely Inhabitable Planets

In a groundbreaking study published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, a team of astrophysicists, led by Heidi Newberg of RPI, have proposed the construction of a unique rectangular telescope. This telescope, with a 20-meter-long mirror and a height of just one meter, is designed to explore Earth-like planets within a 30 light-year distance.

The study, accompanied by an editorial written by Darren Orf, highlights the main advantage of this rectangular telescope: its ability to resolve potentially habitable planets against the deluge of light from the planet's host star. This is achieved through the telescope's design, which allows it to image a planet in virtually any position around its host star.

The proposed telescope can rotate its mirror to image exoplanets at any position around a star. It will take two images for each star system, one with the mirror oriented in a certain direction and another with a 90-degree rotation. This method will aid in the analysis of the planets' positions and the light they emit.

While manufacturing a space telescope with a 20-meter mirror is currently impossible (at least for now), the rectangular telescope is a key goal of NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission. The HWO mission aims to find and study potentially habitable worlds in our galaxy.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope have provided unprecedented access to the cosmos, but they have limitations when it comes to imaging Earth-like planets within a 30 light-year radius. The rectangular telescope, if built, could potentially fill this gap.

Past projects, such as Breakthrough Starshot, aimed for a one-way ticket to the Alpha Centauri system (located 4 light-years away) of only 20 years. However, for now, highly-sophisticated telescopes, whether circular or otherwise, are the easiest way to travel to these alien worlds.

The Starshade Project team, the group behind the proposed rectangular telescope, believes that this telescope could potentially discern whether an exoplanet contains an oxygenated atmosphere via photosynthesis. This would be a significant step towards finding potential life beyond our planet.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory took its first images on June 23, 2025, marking a new era in astronomy. The proposed rectangular telescope, if built, could be another milestone in our quest to understand the universe and our place in it.

Unveiled Telescope Shape Breakthrough: New Rectangular Instrument May Detect 25 Likely Inhabitable Planets