Nuller

As a result, the faint light from a ring of dust orbiting the star can then be detected.

This project is part of a scientific effort to detect and observe nearby planets.

In 1978 Australian-American astronomer Ronald N. Bracewell suggested using nulling interferometry to search for planets around other stars.

There has been a nuller built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that has flown on a NASA sounding rocket twice, once in 2011 and a second time in 2015.

There is also a laboratory nuller at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center known as the Visible Nulling Coronagraph (VNC) that is actively conducting experiments.