New NASA telescope to discover 1,400 exoplanets: Study
New Delhi : Scientists came up with the prediction that the new NASA telescope to be used in near future could be capable of discovering up to 1,400 new worlds. And, some exoplanets can be compared to the Earth. The orbital telescope dubbed as WFIRST, will create history and legacy of the missions which has been left incomplete. Also, the telescope may collect answers to extraterrestrial life located somewhere in the galaxy.
The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is a upcoming mission which is expected to follow in the wake of the much-delayed James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
In May 2018, WFIRST passed an important evaluation from the Agency Program Management Council, indicating the attempt into the preliminary design phase. The expected budget behind the mission is US$3.2 billion and launch date may be sometime in the mid-2020s
WFIRST is being designed with two key objectives in mind. The telescope will make detailed observations of the cosmos in an attempt to glean the nature of dark energy, the enigmatic pressure that some astronomers believe to be the driving force behind the expansion of the universe.
The NASA new telescope will begin the exoplanet search operation based on the Kepler Space Telescope which, after nine and a half years of exploring the universe, was finally decommissioned in October 2018, having effectively run out of fuel.
"Kepler began the search by looking for planets that orbit their stars closer than the Earth is to our Sun," said Matthew Penny, a postdoctoral researcher in The Ohio State University's Department of Astronomy and lead author of the new study. "WFIRST will complete it by finding planets with larger orbits."
