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Fresnel Telescope Will Spot M-Class Planets 30 Light Years Away

Scientists might be giving up on the notion of sending ridiculously large pieces of glass into space. Using a Fresnel-zone lens instead, astronomers at Observatoire Midi Pyrenees in France propose to take extremely high-contrast images at vast distances without a large lens or mirror. A 30-meter Fresnel telescope will provide visual confirmation of Earth-like planets up to 30 light years away. Since it can also observe a wide spectrum range including UV and IR, it can do follow-up detection of life signs, too. The main advantage of the Fresnel telescope is, of course, the fact that it's a perforated sheet of roll-up metal instead of heavy, breakable glass. But there are some major reasons it's not super easy to just whip up one of these telescopes in the machine shop: More »

10:45 AM on Fri May 2 2008
By Wilson Rothman
6,710 views, 37 comments

Latest by Barion: @Buran: Well, M-Class is a Star Trek term. And in Enterprise, they revealed that the M stands for Minshara, more »