Convection and Rotation of stars (COROT)
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Artist's impression of COROT
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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.
External
link
COROT
homepage (ESA)
Related entry
• astroseismology
Related categories
• SATELLITES
AND SPACE PROBES
• EXTRASOLAR
PLANETS AND SUBSTELLAR OBJECTS
•
FRANCE IN SPACE
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