A decisive moment for the CHEOPS space telescope: the opening of its cover took place as planned on Wednesday at 07:38. The first images can now be taken and the accuracy of CHEOPS verified in the coming weeks.
The order to open the CHEOPS cover was issued from the Mission Operation Center (MOC) at the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aerospacial (INTA) near Madrid in Spain, said the universities of Bern and Geneva in a statement. Wednesday. “Thanks to sensor measurements, we knew in a few minutes that everything had gone as planned,” said Bernese scientist Willy Benz.
Images published within one to two weeks
With the successful opening of the lid, a new series of activities begins. “Over the next two months, many stars with and without planets will be targeted to control the accuracy of CHEOPS measurements under different conditions,” said Willy Benz.
These images will not seem spectacular to an inexperienced eye. “Cheops was not designed to take beautiful photos, but to measure the light intensity of stars with the greatest accuracy,” said the Bernese to Keystone-ATS. The goal of the mission is to characterize the properties of exoplanets.
So by comparing with measurements made of other celestial bodies, researchers can determine the density and therefore the type of exoplanet, that is to say if it is a planet made of rock, gas , ice or ocean.
“The raw CHEOPS data is processed in what is called the data reduction pipeline,” says David Ehrenreich, mission scientist at the University of Geneva. CHEOPS has already delivered hundreds of images which were completely black since the cover was still closed, but which made it possible to calibrate the instrument.
David Ehrenreich explains: “It will take time to fully exploit the capabilities of CHEOPS and ground segmentation. However, we expect to be able to analyze and publish the first images within one to two weeks. ”
100 billion planets
CHEOPS (abbreviation of CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) is a project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland, the universities of Bern and Geneva in mind. CHEOPS will compose “a family photo of exoplanets” while observing about 500.
Today, it is estimated that there are at least as many planets as stars in the galaxy, or about 100 billion. More than 4000 exoplanets – orbiting a star other than the Sun – had been detected since the discovery of the first, 51 Pegasi b, 24 years ago by the 2019 Nobel Prize winners Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the University of Geneva. (Ps / nxp)
Created: 29.01.2020, 14h14
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