The technology, borrowed from the military, uses adjustable mirrors and computerized controls to cancel out the Earth's atmospheric haze. It's called adaptive optics, and some of the most sophisticated telescopes in the world are opening their domes to the opportunities it brings. Such planets have previously only been visible as silhouettes in front of suns. Dozens of other extrasolar planets have been calculated to exist by their gravitational tug but have not been directly observed. A team of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and University of California, Los Angeles, have identified a potential extrasolar planet, but the finding has not yet been confirmed, says Andrea Ghez, a UCLA professor and a participant in the planetary hunt.
More data is needed before anything can be said.
Bruce Macintosh, a physicist at Livermore Lab, says adaptive optics systems are well suited for large, ground-based telescopes. And now the technology is coming of age, says Claire Max, a Lab physicist. People are lining up to use it. Max also serves as associate director for advanced technology at the Center for Adaptive Optics, a consortium for researchers in the field. The Center, based at University of California, Santa Cruz, formed in July 1999 as a virtual collaboration, with participating members conducting independent research at their own sites and sharing information with the collective.