A French-led space mission, launched on Dec. 27, 2006, one of the objects of which is to search for extrasolar planets by photometry. Using a 30-centimeter telescope, equipped with charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to monitor the light curves of selected stars for evidence of unseen companions, it will be the first mission capable of detecting large rocky extrasolar worlds that are intermediate in size between the Earth and gas giants. While it is looking at a star, COROT will also be able to detect ‘starquakes’ that send ripples across a star’s surface, altering its brightness. The exact nature of the ripples allows astronomers to calculate the star's precise mass, age and chemical composition. COROT moves ion a circular orbit allowing continuous observation for more than 150 days of two regions in the sky.
