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splitting an exo planet from its star

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#1 MeridianStarGazer

MeridianStarGazer

    James Webb Space Telescope

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Posted 13 June 2025 - 01:30 PM

It would be nice to occult a star, split its planets from it, and time lapse the light of the planets to get an idea of their temperature, locations, orbits, atmospheric composition.

I did a resolution calculation, and I need to check my math again, but it looks like it would need to be a big telescope.

Safe to say, if we send a message to them, we should not assume they know when are planet is on their side of our sun. They would need a big space telescope to do that.

And I don't know how to get the surface diffraction limited over such a large area for visual light. And infrared would need to be bigger to make the split.

I wonder if surfaces need to be more accurate to be used for interferometry.


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