New NASA telescope could locate thousands of exoplanets, study finds

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NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, or WFIRST, is a future flagship mission planned to make new observations about our universe, according to a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The two main objectives of the spacecraft is to study dark energy and to locate exoplanets by using gravitational microlensing."

The new telescope will have the ability to map out different galaxies 100 times faster than the Hubble Space Telescope, according to a news release by The Ohio State University.

WFIRST will also continuously look at 100 million stars at the center of the Milky Way galaxy and analyze the light to determine if there are any exoplanets out there.

According to the university's news release, the telescope could discover as many as 1,400 new planets outside our solar system.

Ohio State University quotes Matthew Penny, lead author of the study, as saying, the telescope's infrared light allows the device to "see through dust that lies in the plane of the Milky Way in between us and the galactic center..''

The WFIRST mission is currently in its planning stages and is planned to launch in the middle of 2020, following NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

RUNDOWN SHOWS:
1. WFIRST telescope, the universe
2. Dark energy, exoplanets, and the telescope
3. The telescope scanning the universe
4. Stars in the Milky Way galaxy and exoplanets

VOICEOVER (in English):
"NASA's newest space telescope, called The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope or WFIRST, is a future flagship mission planned to make new observations about our universe, according to a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal."

"WFIRST has two main objectives: to study dark energy and to locate exoplanets by using gravitational microlensing."

"According to a news release by The Ohio State University, the new telescope will have the ability to map out different galaxies 100 times faster than the Hubble Space Telescope."

"WFIRST will also continuously look at 100 million stars at the center of the Milky Way galaxy and analyze the light to determine if there are any exoplanets out there."

"According to the university's news release, the telescope could discover as many as 1,400 new planets outside our solar system."

SOURCES: News Atlas, Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, The Ohio State University, Forbes, NASA,

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