page_title: CoRoT
section_title: Main results
hierarchical_section_title: CoRoT / Discoveries / Exoplanets / Main results
caption_attribution_description: English: Artist view of Corot-7b, the first discovered Super-Earth exoplanet with fair estimate of size, mass and density
context_page_description: CoRoT was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly those of large terrestrial size, and to perform asteroseismology by measuring solar-like oscillations in stars. The mission was led by the French Space Agency in conjunction with the European Space Agency and other international partners.
  Among the notable discoveries was CoRoT-7b, discovered in 2009 which became the first exoplanet shown to have a rock or metal-dominated composition.
  CoRoT was launched at 14:28:00 UTC on 27 December 2006, atop a Soyuz 2.1b rocket, reporting first light on 18 January 2007. Subsequently, the probe started to collect science data on 2 February 2007. CoRoT was the first spacecraft dedicated to the detection of transiting extrasolar planets, opening the way for more advanced probes such as Kepler and TESS. It detected its first extrasolar planet, CoRoT-1b, in May 2007, just 3 months after the start of the observations. Mission flight operations were originally scheduled to end 2.5 years from launch but operations were extended to 2013.
context_section_description: Among the exoplanets CoRoT detected, one can highlight a subset with the most original features :
  CoRot-1b, the first planet detected by CoRoT is a hot Jupiter. By further analysis, CoRoT-1b became the first exoplanets to have its secondary eclipse detected in the optical, thanks to the high precision lightcurve delivered by CoRoT.
  CoRoT-3b, with a mass of 22 MJup, it appears to be "something between a brown dwarf and a planet." According to the definition of planet proposed by the owners of the exoplanet.eu database three years later, CoRoT-3b, being less massive than 25 Jupiter masses, is classified as an exoplanet. In an August 2010 paper, CoRoT detected the ellipsoidal and the relativistic beaming effects in the CoRoT-3 lightcurve.
  CoRot-7b, with a radius of 1.7 REarth and a mass of 7.3 MEarth, was the first confirmed rocky planet, with a density and composition which are close to those of the Earth.  Its orbital period (i.e. its local year) is very short since it lasts just 20.5 h; because the planet is very close to its star (an almost solar type star), its orbit is a mere 6 stellar radii. As the planet must be in synchronous rotation with its orbital motion because of the huge tidal forces it undergoes, it always presents the same hemisphere to the star: as a consequence, the two hemispheres, the enlightened and the dark, exhibit an extreme contrast in temperature (2200K vs 50K) and a huge ocean of lava must occupy a large part of the hot side. A continent of water and nitrogen dioxide ices is probably occupying the dark side. CoRoT-7b was also the first case of a system discovered by CoRoT, with two super-Earths, one in transit the other not;  radial velocity measurements have indeed led to the discovery of CoRoT-7c, a planet of 8.4 MEarth  and a period of 3.79 days. A third planet is even suspected.
  CoRoT-8b, a planet of the same class as Neptune, with a mass of 0.22 MJup;
  CoRoT-9b, the first planet that has earned the epithet of a temperate planet. With 80% of Jupiter mass, and an orbit similar to the Mercury one, this is the first transiting temperate planet found known to be similar to those within the Solar System. At the time of the discovery, it was the second longest period exoplanet found in transit, after HD80606 b.
  CoRoT-11b and CoRoT-2b, two inflated planets, with radius 1.4 and 1.5 RJup respectively: the theory does not yet provide a consistent model for such objects;
  CoRoT-15b, a bona fide brown dwarf in orbit;
  CoRoT-10b, CoRoT-16b, CoRoT-20b, CoRoT-23b, four hot Jupiters which are on an eccentric orbits, despite circularization is theoretically predicted for such small orbits: this is a clear constraint on Qₚ, the parameter that quantifies the energy dissipation by tidal forces;
  CoRoT-22b, is notable for its small size, having less than half the mass of Saturn.
  CoRoT-24b and c the second planetary system discovered by CoRoT, with two small planets of 0.10 and 0.17 MJup.  The two planets are of Neptune size, and orbit the same star and represented the first multiple transiting system detected by CoRoT.
caption: Artist's impression of CoRoT-7b, the first rocky Super-Earth ever discovered thanks to a good estimate of its size and mass and therefore its density. The image shows the ocean of lava that must exist on the hemisphere that faces the star. Author: Fabien Catalano
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