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Space: The Swiss space telescope is functional – Switzerland

This moment was eagerly awaited. On Wednesday January 29, the cover of the Swiss space telescope CHEOPS was opened, three short days behind schedule. The machine is now fully functional and will be able to take its first pictures of the space. Objective: to make ultra-precise measurements of several stars and observe small variations in their luminosity, signs that an exoplanet (planet outside the solar system) is passing by them.

A project led by Switzerland and the European Space Agency, CHEOPS was designed by the University of Bern in collaboration with the University of Geneva (UNIGE). The data collected by the telescope will be processed at the Science Operations Center located at the Sauverny Observatory (GE). Which has already delivered hundreds of images, but completely black since its cover was not open. They were not, however, useless, since they were used to calibrate the instrument.

With the opening of the lid, new activities will begin. “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, professor of astrophysics at the University of Bern and responsible for the mission.

These “fine adjustments” will also help to drive all aspects of the so-called “ground” segment, since the mission’s operational center is located near Madrid, while the scientific center is located in Geneva. Launched on December 18, the telescope is in orbit around the Earth some 700 kilometers above sea level.

“CHEOPS raw data is processed in what is known as the data reduction pipeline,” said David Ehrenreich, scientific chief of the mission at UNIGE. “It will take time to fully exploit the capabilities of CHEOPS and the ground segmentation,” he adds. However, we expect to be able to analyze and publish the first images within one to two weeks. ”

Created: 01.02.2020, 6:11 p.m.

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