Tiny Measurement Gives Big Boost to Planet Hunt
[To detect the stellar wobble caused by a planet as small as Earth, scientists need an instrument of almost unbelievable sensitivity -- one that could measure an angle just one-tenth the width of a hydrogen atom. That's about 1 millionth of the width of the thickest human hair.]
[Such sub-atomic measurements were conducted for the first time ever within a vacuum-sealed chamber called the Microarcsecond Metrology Testbed.]
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/stars_galaxies/features/mam-testbed.cfm
Such a device may go onboard SIM, scheduled for launch in 2009.