Exoplanets-planets circling other stars-have been detected for the first time ten years ago. Today, more than 100 are known, and they all not at all Earth-like, but massive, possibly resembling the gas giants of the Solar system, like Saturn.
Today's programme visits the Observatoire de Haute Provence, a leading institution in the search for exoplanets. It looks at the techniques the astronomers are using to literally find a needle in a haystack.

Version with extended B-roll
Shotlist extended B-roll:
TC in 10.05.40 start B-Roll
10:05:49 Interview Michel Blanc (in French): on Cassini-Huygens and Saturnian System; on other Solar Systems; on formation of planets, also in the Saturnian System (compare Titan with Gas Giants); on the mission Corot; on the mission Darwin and the search of origins of life.
10:13:54 Interview Jean-Claude Bouret (in French): explaines how the search for exoplanets is done, how the system Elodie works; the history of the search for exoplanets; on the Corot mission.
10:18:00 still

EXOPLANETES and SATURN
TC 10.00.40 START A-Roll
Mysterious Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Saturn with its series of rings; dubbed the jewel in the solar system's crown. The rings are not only beautiful , they tell us a great deal about the effect of gravity on objects orbiting a star or a planet and how certain celestial bodies evolve into planets.
TC 10.01.19 Michel Blanc The Saturn system is absolutely fascinating. At the centre a gaseous object, a little like a star which has not evolved. Around it a ring of solid objects, theses satellites are similar to planets in our solar system. So, in effect, we have a solar system in miniature.
TC 10.01.37 Michel Blanc, astronomer and one of those behind the Cassini/Huygens mission exploring the Saturn system. Here at the Haute Provence Observatory in France he and his colleagues are on the lookout for new worlds. TC 10.02.02 ITV Michel Blanc. What we are looking for are areas where the conditions make it possible for planets to have formed around stars similar to