Nataf and his team will address the challenge posed by interstellar extinction, the dimming and reddening of starlight by dust, which obscures observations of exoplanets. Their work will rely heavily on data from NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope along with observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, Euclid Space Telescope, and Rubin Observatory.
The project aims to improve knowledge of the properties of host stars, such as mass, distance, metallicity, and temperature - key factors influencing planetary characteristics. By constructing multidirectional maps of interstellar dust, the researchers will distinguish how two close-appearing stars may be at different depths within the galaxy.
Methods will include gravitational lensing, which determines exoplanet locations by measuring the effect of massive objects bending light and observing how stellar brightness shifts against background stars.
Currently, there are about 6,000 confirmed exoplanets. Thousands more candidates await verification - a growing dataset that helps scientists understand planetary formation and the prevalence of Earth-like worlds. Nataf stated, "With the data from this survey, we'll be able to say how common planets like Earth are, as in planets with a mass around that of Earth's, and with a surface effective temperature a little warmer than the freezing point of water. That matters because life as we know it requires liquid water."
NASA's three-year award for this project totals $313,000.
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