Overview:

COROT stands dor COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits and is a big step forward for the ESA for the search for extrasolar planets. It is the first mission for the search after rocky planets around nearby stars. Furthermore it is the first European Mission for astroseismology at other stars.

Objectives:

COROT's main tasks will be:

• to detect planets in other stellar systems as they pass in front of their parent stars. blocking some of the light.

• to study stellar interiors by detecting the ripples spreading 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.

Instrumentation:

COROT consists of a 30-centrimetre afocal telescope and will use its telescope to monitor closely the changes in a star's brightness that comes from a planet crossing in front of it. In addtion COROT uses two cameras - one for each of the two mission objectives (exoplanet search and astroseismology), and the on-board computer processors.