Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
CoRoT is the first instrument aiming at detecting exoplanets from space, using the transit method. It has been built in order to explore the domain of planets with orbital period less than three months, and size down to about two Earth radii. Successfully launched on the 27th of December 2006, the instrument started its science observations by the beginning of February 2007. The first detections show the capability of the instrument to enlarge the parameter space and to explore the transition regime between gaseous giant and terrestrial planets. Five new transiting giant planets discovered by CoRoT are fully characterized at the time of writing.