New robotic telescope in Chile set for planet hunt
A new robotic telescope designed to study planets around other stars has taken its first image. Although based in Chile, the Trappist telescope will be operated from a control room in Belgium, 12,000km away. As well as detecting and characterising so-called exoplanets, Trappist will also study comets orbiting our Sun. Read more
TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) is a project driven by the Department of Astrophysics, Geophysics and Oceanography (AGO) of the University of Liège (Belgium), in close collaboration with the Observatory of Geneva (Switzerland). Mostly funded by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) with the participation of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), TRAPPIST is devoted to the detection and characterization of planets located outside our solar system (exoplanets) and to the study of comets. It consists of a 60cm robotic telescope located at ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile. Read more
A new robotic telescope has had first light at ESO's La Silla Observatory, in Chile. TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) is devoted to the study of planetary systems through two approaches: the detection and characterisation of planets located outside the Solar System (exoplanets) and the study of comets orbiting around the Sun. The 60-cm telescope is operated from a control room in Liège, Belgium, 12 000 km away.