COROT-1
Encyclopedia
COROT-1 is a yellow dwarf
main sequence
star
similar to our Sun
. The star is located approximately 1,560 light-year
s away in the constellation
of Monoceros. The apparent magnitude
of this star is 13.6, which means it is not visible to the naked eye
; however, it can be seen through a medium sized amateur telescope
on a clear, dark night. The first exoplanet discovered in the course of the COROT
mission orbits this star; it is considered to be a "hot Jupiter
," and is approximately as massive as the planet Jupiter
itself.
-directed Convection, Rotation, and Planetary Transits
mission, which was launched late December 2006 with one goal involving the search for exoplanets by measuring the varying brightness of candidate stars when transited by any present exoplanets; CoRoT's second goal pertains to the study of the interiors of stars, which is done by analyzing the characteristics and behavior of light released from the star. The numerical designation was assigned because the first exoplanet discovered by the CoRoT telescope was found in orbit of this star. COROT-1 does not have a common or colloquial name like that of Sirius
or Procyon
.
's. Likewise, the star is of nearly the same temperature and mass of the Sun. At an apparent magnitude of approximately +13.6, doubly dimmer than the dimmest star visible with the naked eye, COROT-1 cannot be seen from Earth
without magnification apparatus.
This star is home to the transiting exoplanet CoRot-1b, the first exoplanet discovered by the CoRoT Mission spacecraft. The planet, which is similar to that of the planet Jupiter
's in terms of mass, orbits approximately .02 AU away from its parent star. In comparison, the planet Mercury
orbits at approximately .387 AU from the Sun. COROT-1b is presumed to be tidally locked to its star.
The planet was the first to be sighted optically rather than through infrared
. Unlike other "hot Jupiters," this occurrence seems to imply that the heat transfer between the hemisphere of the planet facing the star and the hemisphere facing away is not significant.
Yellow dwarf
A G-type main-sequence star , often called a yellow dwarf, is a main-sequence star of spectral type G and luminosity class V. Such a star has about 0.8 to 1.2 solar masses and surface temperature of between 5,300 and 6,000 K., Tables VII, VIII...
main sequence
Main sequence
The main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell...
star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
similar to our Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. The star is located approximately 1,560 light-year
Light-year
A light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres...
s away in the constellation
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
of Monoceros. The apparent magnitude
Apparent magnitude
The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
of this star is 13.6, which means it is not visible to the naked eye
Naked eye
The naked eye is a figure of speech referring to human visual perception unaided by a magnifying or light-collecting optical device, such as a telescope or microscope. Vision corrected to normal acuity using corrective lenses is considered "naked"...
; however, it can be seen through a medium sized amateur telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
on a clear, dark night. The first exoplanet discovered in the course of the COROT
Corot
Corot may refer to:* Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French landscape painter * COROT, a space mission with the dual aims of finding extrasolar planets and performing asteroseismology* COROT-7, a dwarf star in the Monoceros constellation...
mission orbits this star; it is considered to be a "hot Jupiter
Hot Jupiter
Hot Jupiters are a class of extrasolar planet whose mass is close to or exceeds that of Jupiter...
," and is approximately as massive as the planet Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
itself.
Nomenclature
The designation "COROT" is a result of its observation by the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-directed Convection, Rotation, and Planetary Transits
Corot
Corot may refer to:* Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French landscape painter * COROT, a space mission with the dual aims of finding extrasolar planets and performing asteroseismology* COROT-7, a dwarf star in the Monoceros constellation...
mission, which was launched late December 2006 with one goal involving the search for exoplanets by measuring the varying brightness of candidate stars when transited by any present exoplanets; CoRoT's second goal pertains to the study of the interiors of stars, which is done by analyzing the characteristics and behavior of light released from the star. The numerical designation was assigned because the first exoplanet discovered by the CoRoT telescope was found in orbit of this star. COROT-1 does not have a common or colloquial name like that of Sirius
Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The name "Sirius" is derived from the Ancient Greek: Seirios . The star has the Bayer designation Alpha Canis Majoris...
or Procyon
Procyon
Procyon is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor. To the naked eye, it appears to be a single star, the seventh brightest in the night sky with a visual apparent magnitude of 0.34...
.
Characteristics
COROT-1 is a G-type star, meaning the light it emits is similar to that of the SunSun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
's. Likewise, the star is of nearly the same temperature and mass of the Sun. At an apparent magnitude of approximately +13.6, doubly dimmer than the dimmest star visible with the naked eye, COROT-1 cannot be seen from Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
without magnification apparatus.
Variability
When COROT-1 was observed by the CoRoT telescope over a continuous period of sixty days since the preliminary results release on 23 May 2007, the star's light exhibited patterns identical to pulsating variable stars with characteristics similar to that of the Sun.Planetary system
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
's in terms of mass, orbits approximately .02 AU away from its parent star. In comparison, the planet Mercury
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
orbits at approximately .387 AU from the Sun. COROT-1b is presumed to be tidally locked to its star.
The planet was the first to be sighted optically rather than through infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
. Unlike other "hot Jupiters," this occurrence seems to imply that the heat transfer between the hemisphere of the planet facing the star and the hemisphere facing away is not significant.