Ewan Douglas leads effort to build space telescope instruments
Optical science postdoctoral researcher Hyukmo Kang (left) and graduate student Solvay Blomquist align space telescope optics in the U of A's Applied Research building.
Schmidt Sciences/Chris Gunn Photo
An interdisciplinary University of Arizona team will develop advanced instruments for a future space telescope designed to image planets outside the solar system. Led by Ewan Douglas, associate professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, the team spans several colleges and will build two of the three instruments housed in the deep-space Lazuli telescope.
The instruments – the ExtraSolar Coronagraph (ESC) and Widefield Context Camera (WCC) – will work together aboard Schmidt Sciences' three-meter Lazuli. Schmidt Sciences is a philanthropic organization founded by investor Wendy Schmidt and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt that aims to accelerate scientific discovery.
ESC will enable imaging of giant planets and dust disks around nearby stars, with sensitivity several times that of the Hubble Space Telescope. Using advanced adaptive optics, ESC can detect Neptune-sized planets orbiting nearby stars.
WCC is an array of sensors and filters that will enable high-resolution astrophysics research.
"This project represents a convergence of the U of A's decades of expertise in building space instruments and adaptive optics," said Douglas.