COROT sees first light!

COROT’s first light More Information ROLLOVER Credits: CNES

The first light detected by COROT comes from the constellation of the Unicorn near Orion, the great 'hunter' whose imposing silhouette stands out in the winter nights. This nice image, taken during the in-orbit calibration exercise, shows that the quality of this preliminary data is basically as good as the computer simulations. "This is an excellent piece of news," commented Malcolm Fridlund, ESA Project Scientist for COROT.

On 18 January, the telescope was carefully aligned with the region to be observed, facing away from the center of our Galaxy. This setting that will be maintained until April, when the Sun's rays will start to interfere with the observations.

COROT will then rotate by 180 degrees and will start observing the opposite region towards the center of the Milky Way. In the meantime the COROT scientists are preparing for the science phase to start in February, continuing a thorough examination of the data and the information collected so far.

COROT's orbit More Information ROLLOVER Credits: CNES

Major steps of this testing phase have been the test of the COROT four thruster's nozzles, necessary to precisely orient the spacecraft in space, and the calibration of the light sensors. The sensor calibration process, which paradoxally must take place in total darkness, is designed to check the detector arrays pixel by pixel. For a given amount of light, a pixel doesn't generate exactly the same amount of current as its neighbors, so these individual responses must be taken into account when applying corrections to the scientific data to come.

COROT is a CNES project with ESA participation. The other major partners in this mission are Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany and Spain.

Source / Credit: ESA