COROT sets off in search of new planets
COROT, a European-built satellite capable of detecting extrasolar planets, was launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on 27 December. Once separated from its launcher, the satellite will monitor some 120,000 stars using its 30-centimetre telescope over the next two and a half years. Starting in the Milky Way, the satellite will move to the constellation Orion after 150 days, followed by another new field every 150 days. The aim is to find out more about the interior behaviour of these stars, in particular the acoustic waves generated deep inside them. The exact nature of these waves, which are said to alter a star's brightness, will allow astronomers to calculate a star's precise mass, age and chemical composition. COROT will also aim to provide a better vision of planet systems beyond the solar system. In the decade since the first discovery in 1995 of an exoplanet - a planet similar to Earth but revolving around another star -, more than 200 other such planets outside our solar system have been detected. The COROT space telescope promises to find many more during its two-and-a-half-year mission. Many of these are expected to be 'hot Jupiters', gaseous worlds, while others are expected to be rocky planets, maybe just a few times larger than the Earth. If such planets are detected, they will constitute a new class of planet. The satellite mission is led by the French national space agency (CNES) and involves the European Space Agency (ESA) as well as partners from Austria, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Brazil.
Countries
France