New technologies for astronomical research
The "Novel Astronomical Instrumentation through Photonic Reformatting" (NAIR) project is being funded by the DFG within the "New Instrumentation for Research" call for proposals. The project is being supported by the Königstuhl State Observatory of the Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University, the Institute of Physics I of the University of Cologne, and the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam. The researchers in Heidelberg, Cologne and Potsdam will design and test components that can efficiently rearrange the light of stars and galaxies to enable high-precision measurements of cosmic objects. This new technology is targeted for use on large telescopes in order to, for example, search for earth-like planets of nearby stars and determine their atmospheric composition.