This weekend, SpaceX will take a telescope into orbit that will study the most common types of stars in the galaxy. Researchers from the University of Arizona and Arizona State University helped develop the device.
The cereal-box-sized telescope, called Star Planet Activity Research CubeSat or SPARC for short, will study what are called M type and K type stars, which can be quite a bit smaller than our own sun.
Researchers will use the space telescope to study the stars’ solar flares. This will give them more information on how solar storms interact with the atmospheres, or remove them entirely on the nearby exoplanets. There are roughly 50-billion planets in those star habitable zones in the Milky Way.
Researchers with ASU helped design and assemble the telescope which is set to launch Sunday night.