New way found to search for exoplanets

GREENBELT, Md., Oct. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. space agency scientists say they've identified another way by which astronomers can identify exoplanets in their search for habitable planets.

Christopher Stark of the University of Maryland, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration study's lead researcher, said supercomputer simulations of dusty disks around sun-like stars show planets nearly as small as Mars can create patterns that future telescopes might be able to detect.

"It may be a while before we can directly image Earth-like planets around other stars, but before then we'll be able to detect the ornate and beautiful rings they carve in interplanetary dust," said Stark.

Working with Marc Kuchner at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Stark modeled how 25,000 dust particles responded to the presence of a single planet -- ranging from the mass of Mars to five times Earth's -- orbiting a sun-like star.

"It isn't widely appreciated that planetary systems -- including our own -- contain lots of dust," Stark added. "We're going to put that dust to work for us."

NASA said Stark's and Kuchner's models will give astronomers a preview of dust structures that signal the presence of otherwise hidden worlds.

The research appears in the Astrophysical Journal.