Andrew Yee[_1_]
February 7th 07, 05:26 PM
Press Relations Office
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales
Paris, France
5 February 2007
COROT science observations underway
After stabilizing the boresight in fine-pointing mode, using the instrument
as a super star tracker, teams at CNES and French national scientific
research centre CNRS have acquired the 1st images on COROT's exoplanet
channel.
Early evaluation of data quality enabled COROT mission teams to begin
acquiring the 1st science data on 3 February. This phase will continue until
the satellite is rotated toward a new star field, a manoeuvre scheduled for
2 April.
The science community has been eagerly these 1st science data, returned only
5 weeks after launch following the flawless operation of the satellite and
its systems. This fine success for CNES is a tribute to the agency's
engineering expertise.
These false-colour images highlight luminous intensity: blue stars are the
least bright and white stars the brightest.
In-orbit checkout -- signalling the handover to operations teams who will be
putting the satellite through its paces to gauge overall performance --
should be completed by end March.
The objective of this 1st observation campaign is to finely tune the light
curve processing system. Scientists are expecting to glean valuable data due
to the excellent quality of the field observed, which contains some very
good targets for stellar seismology and will also be ideal for viewing on
the exoplanet channel.
IMAGE CAPTIONS:
[Image 1:
http://www.cnes.fr/imagezoom.php?file=p5764_56e2c2eb9d1d089ee42430cf1 a5889c7grand_champ_bleu.jpg&label=]
A star field observed by COROT
White stars with a vertical line through them are too bright to be studied
by COROT, as they saturate the CCD sensor.
[Image 2:
http://www.cnes.fr/imagezoom.php?file=p5764_d23f1c95368be4d2e2f64bcce 538b552champ_moyen_bleu.jpg&label=]
50 stars observed by COROT
Image covering a field of view of 0.25 deg x 0.25 deg. COROT can only study
the objects that appear white.
[Image 3:
http://www.cnes.fr/imagezoom.php?file=p5764_7dbf2353314ce53bd844538e2 e16d56fpetit_champ_bleu.jpg&label=]
Close-up of the centre of the previous image, showing 3 stars that COROT
will study.
The larger patches in the image are stars with higher surface temperatures.
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales
Paris, France
5 February 2007
COROT science observations underway
After stabilizing the boresight in fine-pointing mode, using the instrument
as a super star tracker, teams at CNES and French national scientific
research centre CNRS have acquired the 1st images on COROT's exoplanet
channel.
Early evaluation of data quality enabled COROT mission teams to begin
acquiring the 1st science data on 3 February. This phase will continue until
the satellite is rotated toward a new star field, a manoeuvre scheduled for
2 April.
The science community has been eagerly these 1st science data, returned only
5 weeks after launch following the flawless operation of the satellite and
its systems. This fine success for CNES is a tribute to the agency's
engineering expertise.
These false-colour images highlight luminous intensity: blue stars are the
least bright and white stars the brightest.
In-orbit checkout -- signalling the handover to operations teams who will be
putting the satellite through its paces to gauge overall performance --
should be completed by end March.
The objective of this 1st observation campaign is to finely tune the light
curve processing system. Scientists are expecting to glean valuable data due
to the excellent quality of the field observed, which contains some very
good targets for stellar seismology and will also be ideal for viewing on
the exoplanet channel.
IMAGE CAPTIONS:
[Image 1:
http://www.cnes.fr/imagezoom.php?file=p5764_56e2c2eb9d1d089ee42430cf1 a5889c7grand_champ_bleu.jpg&label=]
A star field observed by COROT
White stars with a vertical line through them are too bright to be studied
by COROT, as they saturate the CCD sensor.
[Image 2:
http://www.cnes.fr/imagezoom.php?file=p5764_d23f1c95368be4d2e2f64bcce 538b552champ_moyen_bleu.jpg&label=]
50 stars observed by COROT
Image covering a field of view of 0.25 deg x 0.25 deg. COROT can only study
the objects that appear white.
[Image 3:
http://www.cnes.fr/imagezoom.php?file=p5764_7dbf2353314ce53bd844538e2 e16d56fpetit_champ_bleu.jpg&label=]
Close-up of the centre of the previous image, showing 3 stars that COROT
will study.
The larger patches in the image are stars with higher surface temperatures.