A new Swiss instrument has been installed as part of the European Southern Observatory telescope in Chile. Among other things, it will help to search for traces of life on distant planets.

The new instrument is a so-called laser frequency comb, which was developed by the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), the organisation said on Tuesday.

The comb generates light with an exceptionally stable frequency spectrum characterised by evenly distributed lines. It serves as an optical scale, which allows the speed at which a star is travelling towards or away from the Earth to be determined more precisely, the CSEM said. …