COROT or COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits has launched today at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It is a project of the French national space agency. It's two and a half year mission will find extrasolar planet, or a planet that does not orbit our Sun, by measuring the dip in the light of the star they orbit as they pass in front of it. A 27 cm (10.6 inch) diameter lens will take in these measurements. COROT is also made to observe "starquakes" (defined by SPACE.com as "acoustical waves generated deep inside stars which ripple across a star’s surface, altering its brightness"). This will reveal properties about the stars that COROT will observe.For more information: