NASA to test new equipment on Roman Space Telescope for future Earth‑like planet discovery

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will conduct a series of on‑sky tests of a new high‑contrast imaging system on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) later this month. The instrument, a next‑generation coronagraph paired with an adaptive‑optics module, is designed to suppress starlight by more than a billion‑fold, allowing faint, Earth‑size planets to be seen directly around nearby Sun‑like stars. If the tests confirm the expected performance, the technology could be incorporated into future flagship missions aimed at finding habitable worlds.

The system uses a deformable mirror to correct atmospheric turbulence in real time while a shaped‑pupil mask blocks the star’s light. During the test campaign, ESO will observe a set of target stars spanning a range of spectral types and distances, measuring the contrast ratio achieved at separations as small as 0.1 arcseconds. The data will also feed into calibration models that predict how the instrument will operate in space, where the absence of atmospheric distortion will allow even finer angular resolution. Successful results would validate the design for use on upcoming space telescopes, such as the planned Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) or the Large UV/Optical/IR Surveyor (LUVOIR).

If the VLT tests meet their goals, the coronagraph technology could become a cornerstone of the next generation of exoplanet surveys, dramatically increasing the number of detectable Earth‑like planets in the habitable zone. The ESO team will publish their findings in a forthcoming issue of the *Astronomical Journal*, and plans are already underway to adapt the instrument for deployment on the James Webb Space Telescope’s planned exoplanet imaging extension.