A planet-hunting satellite that launched in December 2006 has opened its eye to the stars. Its first images suggest the satellite’s instruments are in good working order, paving the way for planet searching to begin in February 2007. The mission, called „Convection, Rotation & Planetary Transits“ (COROT) and led by France’s Centre Nationale d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), launched on December 27, 2006, from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will use a 27-centimetre telescope to look for the tiny brightness dips of stars caused by planets passing in front of them, potentially spotting planets just two or three times the size of Earth.
http://smsc.cnes.fr/COROT/GP_actualite.htm#janv2007