First Light

Scientists are one step closer to discovering life on other planets.

A team of engineers and astrophysicists has installed the front-end module of a new instrument named iLocater at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory in the Pinaleño Mountains of southeast Arizona. When fully completed, the instrument will be a first-of-its-kind high-resolution spectrometer capable of detecting Earth-like planets within habitable zones of nearby stars.

After successfully achieving “first light,” capturing a beam of starlight filtered through the telescope’s adaptive optics system, the team discovered what was thought to be a singular star was actually a previously unidentified binary star system.

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