Astronomy and Space

Habitable Exoplanets Observatory

The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) is a space telescope concept that would be optimized to search for and image Earth-size habitable exoplanets in the habitable zones of their stars, where liquid water can exist. HabEx would aim to understand how common terrestrial worlds beyond the Solar System may be and determine the range of their characteristics. It would be an optical, UV and infrared telescope that would also use spectrographs to study planetary atmospheres and eclipse starlight with either an internal coronagraph or an external starshade. The proposal, first made in 2016, is for a large strategic science missions NASA mission. It would operate at the Lagrange point L2. In January 2023, a new space telescope concept was proposed called the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), which draws upon HabEx and the Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR).

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See also

• ▸Delta Velorum
• ▸Functions of the Pharaoh
• ▸21 Aquilae

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