COROT first image
1er janvier 2007
The cover of the telescope of the COROT satellite has been opened successfully by the CNES Teams in Toulouse on Wednesday January 17th 2007. The first image has been acquired in the following night The first analysis tells that it is in complete agreement with what was foreseen, which means that the telescope is in good shape.
- Figure 1 : Première image obtenue avec COROT, montrant des étoiles situées dans la constellation de la Licorne, à proximité d’Orion (© CNES).
Now, CoRoT is bieng pointed towards the observing zone in the anticentre of the galaxy, and will keep it till april. The scientific observations are scheduled to start at the beginning of February, after the last calibrations of the instrument. Le Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique (Observatoire de Paris) plays a leading rôle, associated to Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille Provence), Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (Orsay) and Observatoire Midi Pyrénées (Toulouse). About COROT : The mission CoRoT (Convection, Rotation of stars and Transits of extrasolar planets) is a space telescope which will allow the discovery of telluric extrasolar planets, i.e. planets looking like big Earths, which has never been done yet. Corot is also a mission for stellar photometry of high precision, which will allow a better understanding of stellar interiors. The instrument was developped by CNES and CNRS laboratories, the main ones being the LESIA (Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon), the LAM (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille Provence), the IAS (Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay) and the Observatoire Midi Pyrénées (Toulouse). The project has also benefitted from an important european participation (Germany, Austria, Belgium, ESA and Spain) completed by Brazil. CNES Press release
Contact Annie Baglin (Observatoire de Paris, LESIA et CNRS )
Michel Auvergne (Observatoire de Paris, LESIA et CNRS )
Dernière modification le 4 mars 2013