Abstract

One of the questions which has endured for as long as man has looked at the heavens is ”Are we alone?”. Are there beings on other planets who are also looking into the heavens? The first requirement for alien life similar to our own is that there be planets orbiting other stars. The early stages of planet formation as dictated by theory appear to be robust and several large planets have recently been detected by indirect means[1][2]. Direct imaging is currently being used to search for less ambitious, yet still scientifically interesting faint objects called Brown Dwarfs. The most convincing evidence of a Brown Dwarf, a cross between a star and a planet, was discovered by direct imaging with the aid of a 7.7 arcsecond separation from a companion star[3].

© 1996 Optical Society of America