Researchers publish 27 exoplanet targets for Lazuli Coronagraph

This is a new development in a story we reported earlier: Researchers pick 27 exoplanet targets for Lazuli space Telescope ahead of 2029 launch.

Logan Pearce, an astronomer at the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy, and Ewan Douglas of the University of Arizona Steward Observatory authored a paper posted on arXiv in 2026 that proposes 27 exoplanet targets for the ExtraSolar Coronagraph on the Lazuli space telescope. The paper, which carries the DOI 10.48550/arxiv.2610.31286, takes its title from the coronagraph’s reflected starlight exoplanet campaign and focuses on giant exoplanets as its targets. The Lazuli telescope, the brainchild of Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, will be the world’s first private space telescope and will carry a 3-meter primary mirror that is larger than Hubble’s 2.4-meter mirror. The observatory will launch by 2029 and will include three instruments: a wide-field optical imager, an integral field spectrograph, and the ExtraSolar Coronagraph.

Reflected starlight imaging allows the ExtraSolar Coronagraph to study mature exoplanet atmospheres without relying on residual heat from formation, a capability that extends the reach of direct imaging to older, cooler worlds. Because reflected visible light does not diminish with planetary age in the same way thermal emission does, planets that are dim in infrared can still be bright in reflected light. The technique also enables the telescope to observe planets closer to their host stars than infrared observatories can, since shorter visible wavelengths near the star’s peak luminosity yield smaller resolution limits. Detecting reflected light demands contrast ratios between 10^-7 and 10^-9 and integration times ranging from tens to hundreds of hours, which makes unguided searches impractical for a 3-meter telescope.

To overcome this challenge, the authors selected targets with well-established orbits, spending the limited exposure time on planets where a detection is plausible. The resulting list of 27 giant exoplanets spans a variety of ages and temperatures that direct imaging has not explored, according to the researchers. They expect that the sample will overlap with observations from other facilities, creating synergies that yield fuller atmospheric characterizations.

Among the targets are 55 Cancri d, a Jupiter analog; HD 181433 d, which follows a highly eccentric orbit in a system that also hosts an ultrashort-period super-Earth; and Beta Pic b, one of the first directly imaged exoplanets, which interacts with a prominent debris disk.

Some targets will also be observable by the ELT’s METIS thermal imager and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope‘s coronagraphic instrument. The authors conclude that the list expands direct imaging of gas giants into colder regimes and overlaps with Roman CGI and ELT-METIS capabilities. This overlap aims to create synergies that provide more comprehensive atmosphere characterization.

Logan Pearce and Ewan Douglas wrote that “Reflected light imaging enables detection and characterization of planets decoupled from age.” Private ownership of a space telescope is unprecedented, and its effectiveness and implications remain uncertain.