COROT - In search of rocky planets For more than a decade the SOHO Mission has provided great insights into our Sun. The COROT spacecraft will learn much more about the interior of stars. While looking at stars, COROT will detect subtle variations in their luminosity, caused by the transit of planets orbiting around them, and break new ground in the search for distant worlds outside the Solar System. Vodcast Play now | Download   Since the discovery in 1995 of the first extra solar planet, more than two hundred have been identified using ground-based telescopes. COROT will be launched on 27 December 2006 by a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, and will be placed in a polar orbit around Earth at an altitude of some 850 kilometres. Led by the French Space Agency CNES, the COROT mission today has a wide-ranging European scientific and technological participation including ESA, Austria, Belgium, Brazil and Germany.       Last update: 7 February 2007  •  Searching for exoplanets (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/COROT/index.html) Related ESApod  •  COROT (podcast) (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ESApod/SEM45CQJNVE_0.html) More about...  •  COROT overview (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120372_index_0_m.html)  •  COROT factsheet (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMO6C1A6BD_index_0.html) Related articles  •  The European dimension of COROT: An interview with Fabio Favata (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMQUEZTIVE_index_0.html)  •  COROT launch postponed (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMHWD9L6VE_Life_0.html)  •  COROT fuels up (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMMFV8L6VE_index_0.html)  •  COROT started its launch campaign in Baikonur (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMXRVC4VUE_index_0.html)  •  COROT and the new chapter of planetary searches (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMCBN0CYTE_Life_0.html)  •  Europe goes searching for rocky planets (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMN45PFHTE_Life_0.html)  •  How many planets are outside our Solar System? (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMZVI5V9ED_index_0.html)  •  How to find an extrasolar planet (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMYZF9YFDD_index_0.html)  •  ESA ESTEC expertise and facilities assist COROT project (http://www.esa.int/techresources/ESTEC-Article-fullArticle_par-28_1122386985547.html)  •  Planet discoverer: An interview with Didier Queloz (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMK13T1VED_index_0_iv.html) Related links  •  COROT at CNES (http://smsc.cnes.fr/COROT/)  •  Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia (http://www.exoplanet.eu)  •  - (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ESApod/index.html)  •  (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=117835479 &s=143441)  •  (http://podcasts.yahoo.com/series?s=4bd3e42bd1a996c47ff89731a8832060)  •  ESApod (http://feeds.feedburner.com/ESApod)  •  (http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/Science/Astronomy/ESA-Podcast/16859)  •  (http://www.podcast.net/show/45773)  •  (http://www.podnova.com/index_podnova_station.srf?url=http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/esc/esapod.xml)  •  (http://odeo.com/channel/105568/view) Required software  •   Windows Media Player (http://www.microsoft.com)  •   QuickTime (http://www.apple.com)