COROT's two eyes

The right ascension of COROT’s orbit plane (12.5°) has been chosen after a ground preparatory observation campaign: COROT will look in the sky at 6:50 in winter and 18:50 in summer.

Thanks to its telescope's baffle efficiency, it is possible to get closer to the Earth limb direction and thus orientate the satellite inside a cone with a 10-degree radius. When projected onto the sky, this cone draws the two eyes of COROT, where the stellar fields to be observed will be selected .