# NASA's New Space Telescope Has a Planet-Hunting Problem

- slug: nasas-new-space-telescope-has-a-planet-hunting-problem
- date: 2026-04-22
- category: Space & Aerospace

NASA's new telescope carries an instrument designed to detect planets 100 million times fainter than their stars. The catch: that benchmark comes from a lab, not orbit — and the telescope's own optics may make the job harder than expected.

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