 |
MISSION NAME:
CoRoT
(COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits) |
|
 |
|
|
|
LAUNCH DATE:
December 2006 |
|
|
FINDS PLANETS USING:
Transit method |
|
|
CURRENT STATUS:
In operation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| A computer illustration of CoRoT |
The most recent planet-finding mission to launch is the French CoRoT mission, a satellite specifically designed to observe planetary transits in front of their host stars. CoRoT's extremely sensitive light-detecting instruments can measure tiny dips in the brightness of a star that indicate the passage of a planet. CoRoT discovered its first extrasolar planet within six months after launching.
CoRoT's current mission plan includes a survey of more than 120,000 stars. Astronomers hope to find not only many giant gas planets, but rocky, smaller planets like Earth. The spacecraft will divide its observations into four different runs over the course of the year as it orbits the Earth, and will use two different "eyes" to look at different parts of the sky at the same time.
COROT is a mission of the French space agency CNES, with participation from the ESA (European Space Agency) as well as Austria, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Brazil.
