This article is still a work in progress.
The Habitable Worlds Observatory HWO is a mission concept for a large space telescope capable of observing in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet wavelength ranges. It has been recommended by the National Academies’ Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s, which is a ten-year-survey by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to identify the most compelling science goals in the field of astrophysics and space science in the coming decade.
The HWO would directly image known potentially habitable exoplanets and use spectroscopy to search for biosignatures in the planets’ atmospheres. If deployed, it would be the first telescope specifically designed to look for biosignatures in extrasolar planets.
Artist’s conception of one possible design for the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.
Links for further reading:
- Habitable Worlds Observatory Website by NASA
- Habitable Worlds Observatory Website by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy