Starshade

Subject: Starshade 15th November 2014, 10:46 pm

Quote :: A starshade, also dubbed an external occulter, is a precisely shaped screen that flies in far-away formation with a space telescope. The device blocks a star's light to create a high-contrast shadow, so that only light from an orbiting exoplanet enters the telescope for detailed study.

Quote :: Subscale versions of starshades have undergone nighttime desert testing, most recently at central Nevada's Smith Creek dry lake bed over five nights in late May and early June of this year. Previously, a California test locale was used. [How the Planet-Hunting Starshade Unfolds in Space (Video)]

Desert appraisals of hardware have focused on how computational optical predictions stack up against in-the-field performance of two different starshade shapes, said Steve Warwick, program manager for starshade field testing at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

The recent Nevada test took advantage of the thin air and very dark skies at high-altitude Smith Creek, Warwick said. A six-person team made use of a modified Celestron telescope and ultrabright, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) placed about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) away. The LEDs were all finely aligned with an automated stand topped by a starshade model sitting in the middle of the test range.