The phrase
"planet around nearby stars" means that there are other planets circling or orbiting around stars that are not our Sun, and these stars are relatively close to us.
Full definition
WASHINGTON — NASA has signed a Space Act Agreement with a private organization currently raising funds for studies of a space telescope designed to look for
habitable planets around a nearby star.
TESS is expected to perform an all - sky survey focused on finding transiting
rocky planets around nearby stars, planets that could then be studied in further detail by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which would launch no sooner than 2018.
For example, while still in its scientific checkout phase, scientists using ALMA have found evidence for Earth -
mass planets around nearby stars; as it nears its full complement of 66 antennas, ALMA will deduce the presence of many more exoplanets and study the chemical composition of the planetary nurseries.
Former astronaut John Grunsfeld added, «I think we're one generation away in our solar system, whether it's on an icy moon or on Mars, and one generation [away] on
a planet around a nearby star»...
Swain is principal investigator of the Fast Infrared Exoplanet Spectroscopy Survey Explorer (Finesse), a proposed 30 - inch space telescope that would probe more than 200
planets around nearby stars to learn about their atmospheres and how they formed.
Among the top casualties is the Space Interferometry Mission PlanetQuest, a space observatory geared toward searching for Earth - like
planets around nearby stars.
The GMT aims to discover Earth - like
planets around nearby stars and the tiny distortions that black holes cause in the light from distant stars and galaxies.
At the UA, astronomers and planetary scientists were awarded a $ 5.7 million, five - year grant to identify the optimum conditions for extraterrestrial life and
the planets around nearby stars that are capable of hosting it.
He added: «It would open an enormous new window on the Universe, allowing you to detect the presence of oxygen if there is any on Earth - like
planets around nearby stars.