New Telescope Helps Caltech Researchers Observe Star-Orbiting Planets

Four planets near a star close to the sun have gotten their best close-up yet, courtesy of a new, powerful telescope that enables Caltech researchers to examine and catalogue planetary systems in unprecedented detail, according to a story on the Caltech website.

The telescope, dubbed Project 1640, helped observers distinguish star light from planetary light, according to the story. The four planets were around a star called HR 8799. 

The telescope "blocks the otherwise overwhelming starlight, picks out the faint specks that are planets, and obtains their spectra. Project 1640 allowed the team to take spectra of all four of the planets around HR 8799 simultaneously, which had never been done for any planetary system before."

Check out the rest of the story here.