Scientists at Durham University are helping to develop a new type of camera intended to help search for life on distant planets.
Researchers there are part of a UK team designing a high-resolution imaging camera to be used on Nasa's Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission.
HWO will be the first telescope specifically designed to find Earth-like planets and examine them for signs of life.
Prof Richard Massey of Durham University said the new technology would be the "21st Century's Hubble Space Telescope" and could help make a number of major discoveries.
"As well as looking for life, a telescope that amazing will watch collisions of asteroids in our solar system, stare into black holes, and solve the mystery of dark matter," he said.
