>>11880889https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2002/2002.11871.pdfNASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase II
80HQTR18NOA01 – 18NIAC-A2
DIRECT MULTIPIXEL IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY OF AN EXOPLANET
WITH A SOLAR GRAVITY LENS MISSION
>In our NIAC Phase II study we examined the solar gravitational lens (SGL) as the means to produce direct high-resolution, multipixel images of exoplanets. TheSGL results from the diffraction of light by the solar gravitational field, which acts as a lens by focusing incident light at distances >548 AU behind the sun (Figure 1). The properties of the SGL are remarkable: it offers maximum light amplification of ~1011 and angular resolution of ~10?10 arcsec, for l = 1 µm. A probe with a 1-m telescope in the SGL focal region (SGLF), namely, in its strong interference region, can build an image of an exoplanet at 30 pc with 10-km scale resolutionof its surface, which is not possible with any known classical optical instruments. This resolution is sufficient to observe seasonal changes, oceans, continents and surface topography.
>Figure 2 describes such a capability. From an aim point on the SGL virtual sphere and because ofthe 1011 magnification of the SGL, we can capture images of exosolar systems up to 100 ly from
the Sun and beyond. No matter how distant the parent star, the image is collected by flying to the
SGL, that starts outward from the sun at ~550 AU.
