Cheops, an orbiting telescope to characterize exoplanets

representación misión Cheops
Artist's impression of the launch of ESA's CHEOPS mission, shortly after CHEOPS separated from the launch vehicle's Fregat stage.
Advertised on

This telescope was launched this morning from the Kourou (French Guyana) base of the European Space Agency (ESA) to observe minute changes in the brightness of stars, and to analyze the density and the composition of the exoplanets in orbit around them. In this project, led by ESA and Switzerland, there are 21 scientific institutions from ten countries participating, among them two researchers from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC).

The aim of the Cheops telescope is to follow exoplanets already discovered to make precision analyses of their densities, which is an essential step in understanding their structure and composition. For example it tells us whether they are mainly gas or rocky and, maybe, if they have oceans.

"From the IAC we gave led a working group aimed at planning a series of measurements to monitor the instrument. The calculations were made soon after launch, to evaluate the state of Cheops once it had arrived on orbit" explains Enric Pallé, an IAC researcher who is a member of the committee which manages the science of the satellite.

"With Cheops we will be able to measure the exoplanet transits which we cannot detect from ground based observatories, where we are limited by the turbulence of our atmosphere. We will also obtain more accurately the physical parameters of the giant gaseous planets, which will help us to select those we will want to observe in more detail." comments Roi Alonso, another IAC researcher in the science team, leader of the group in charge of monitoring the instrument.

The launch was followed from two operations centres: the first in Geneva (Switzerland) to plan the observations, their processing and data archiving. The second, in Torrejón (Spain) from which the mission is operated via commands to the satellite, and where the data are received.

The great precision with which the telescope will be able to measure the depth of the light curves during transits will allow the astronomers to determine the sizes of the planets precisely. It will also identify objects for study by the James Well space telescope, which will be able to detect the presence of water and methane -important elements for seeking signs of habitability- and which is scheduled for launch in 2021.

This satellite is the first of a set of three missions programmed by ESA during the coming decade with the aim of researching exoplanets from a variety of aspects. These missions (Cheops today, Plato from 2026, and Ariel from 2028) will keep the European scientific community at the forefront of exoplanet research.

 

Contacts:

Roi Alonso Sobrino (+34 922 605 413)

Email: ras [at] iac.es (ras[at]iac[dot]es)

Enric Pallé (+34 922 605 268)

Email: epalle [at] iac.es (epalle[at]iac[dot]es)

Astrophysics
Technology
General public

It may interest you

  • Artist's impression of the ANDES instrument on the ELT. Credit: ESO
    Press release
    The agreement for the construction of the ANDES instrument on the ELT is signed
    The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has signed an agreement with an international consortium of institutions, including the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA) and the Centro de Astrobiología de Madrid (CSIC-INTA), for the design and construction of ANDES, the ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph. The instrument will be installed on ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). It will be used to search for signs of life in exoplanets and look for the very first stars, as well as to test variations of the fundamental constants of
    Advertised on
  • Cadena de resonancias del sistema HD110067
    Press release
    The synchronized dance of a system of six planets is revealed
    An international collaboration, with participation by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has found a system of six exoplanets orbiting a central star with a precise rhythm.This phenomenon, known as orbital resonance, is common during the starting phase of planet formation, but it is exceptional to find a system with such a large set of planets which conserves this kind of gravitational synchronism. This finding shows that the system has not undergone major changes during its six billion year history, so that it gives an unusual view of the formation and evolution of planets. The
    Advertised on
  • Artist’s concept of Gliese 12 b
    Press release
    Astronomers discover one of the closest potentially habitable exoplanets to Earth
    An international research, in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has played a leading role, has found a planet of intermediate size between Earth and Venus orbiting a cool red dwarf 40 light-years away. The new world, named Gliese 12 b, lies within the habitable zone of its star, making it a promising candidate for the James Webb Space Telescope to study its atmosphere. The discovery was made possible thanks to observations from NASA's TESS satellite and other facilities such as CARMENES, at Calar Alto Observatory (CAHA), and MuSCAT2, installed at the Carlos Sánchez
    Advertised on