How a Nasa Starshade could help find exoplanets

Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing a giant shade which could help in the search for life on planets outside our Solar System (exoplanets).

Earth-like planets orbiting a star are about 10 billion times fainter than a star making it very difficult to see, but a Starshade flown between a space telescope and a star could precisely block out a star’s light and reveal any planets.

The exoplanets could then be analysed for signs of life.

The shade will be too big to fit in a rocket, but Nasa has developed a way of folding it before it is transported and unfurling it once it is in space.

BBC Click’s Spencer Kelly finds out more.

(Animation courtesy of Nasa)

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