Scientists are testing "starshades", flying screens that block out starlight enabling orbiting telescopes to process only dimmer planetary light. Following night -time tests at Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in Arizona , the team hopes to fly a starshade with Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope 's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope , which is set to launch in 2024 or 2024 . The sites selected for evaluating starshade designs each have pros and cons, but collectively the evaluations are complementary and help to validate optical modeling of the idea, said Steve Warwick, Starshade program manager at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. It's believed a starshade could allow telescopes to accumulate more precise data on the "habitable zones" of stars, where planets with liquid water might exist.
Scientists are testing "starshades", flying screens that block out starlight enabling orbiting telescopes to process only dimmer planetary light. Following night -time tests at Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in Arizona , the team hopes to fly a starshade with Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope 's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope , which is set to launch in 2024 or 2024 . It's believed a starshade could allow telescopes to accumulate more precise data on the "habitable zones" of stars, where planets with liquid water might exist.