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Scientists from around the world will soon be able to study planets up to 200 light years away from Earth thanks to a state-of-the-art instrument being built at Penn State University.

(NASA)

Scientists from around the world will soon be able to study planets up to 200 light years away from Earth thanks to a state-of-the-art instrument being built at Penn State University.

NASA has selected a Penn-State-led research group to build an instrument capable of detecting planets orbiting stars outside our solar system -- known as exoplanets. The team -- made up of about 20 scientists -- will have three years to build the $10 million instrument.

The instrument will measure the tiny back-and-forth wobble of a star caused by the gravitational tug of a planet in orbit around it, according to NASA. The wobble tells scientists there is a planet orbiting the star, and the size of the wobble indicates how massive the planet is.

"These are hard projects to take on and they are very challenging builds," said team leader Suvrath Mahadevan. "We're very passionate about advancing the state of exoplanet science and at the same time we're passionate about building an instrument that other astronomers can use."

The instrument will be located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson when it's completed in 2019. The instrument's name -- NEID -- is derived from the word meaning "to discover/visualize" in the native language of the Tohono O'odham -- whose home is based in Arizona.

NEID is set to become the centerpiece of a partnership between NASA and the National Science Foundation.

Mahadevan, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, said the instrument will be made available to scientists from all over the world.

"That's very satisfying," Mahadevan said. "You're enable people to do their science."

NEID will be built over the next three years in laboratories at Innovation Park on the Penn State University Park Campus and at partnering institutions.