ASTRONOMY

‘Planet hunter’ space telescope gets seal of approval

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The European Space Agency (ESA) has approved plans to build the world’s first space telescope dedicated to studying the atmosphere of exoplanets.  The Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (Ariel) will be used to investigate the relationship between exoplanet chemistry and environment, collecting data from approximately 1,000 known exoplanets. Around 4,000 planets outside our solar system … Read more

Astronomers ‘undistort’ images to map dark matter

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Astronomers in Australia have discovered a new way to see the elusive dark matter haloes that surround galaxies. The new technique, created by researchers at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, draws on the effect called weak gravitational lensing – a feature of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Scientists estimate that up to 85 per cent … Read more