WFIRST to use donated space telescope for exoplanet imaging

The WFIRST (Wide Field Infra-Red Survey Telescope) project aims to use one of the space telescopes donated to NASA by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) last year primarily for the study of distant supernova and galaxies. However, it also will “be a bonanza for exoplanet studies” : Exoplanet capabilities of WFIRST-2.4 – The Space Review

In addition to microlensing to detect exoplanets, a coronagraph

will block out a large fraction of the light of target stars. With much of the glare of parent stars suppressed, the telescope will be able to directly image any planets orbiting that star. The goal is to produce as narrow an image of the space around the star as possible. This is referred to as the Inner Working Angle (IWA). The more that the IWA can be shrunk, the more inner planets can be imaged. It is possible that the enhanced WFIRST may be able to view planets as close as 1 astronomical unit (AU) to their parent star, depending on their distance from our solar system.

John Kelly applauds the use of surplus assets : Sharing technology leaps us ahead – Florida Today