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Engineers at OHB, Germany, inspect Plato\u2019s newly installed 24 cameras on the spacecraft\u2019s optical bench, the structure that keeps all cameras firmly pointed in the right direction. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Together the 24 identical, ultra-sensitive eyes will stare at a large area of the sky and hunt for terrestrial planets. Two more so-called \u2018fast cameras\u2019, will be installed in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
Plato will use its cameras simultaneously to survey the sky and discover exoplanets that orbit stars similar to our Sun, searching for potentially habitable worlds.<\/p>\n
The 24 cameras are arranged in four groups of six elements that have the same field-of-view. The lines of sight of the four groups are offset by an angle of 9.2\u00b0. With this arrangement, the cameras can survey a very large area of the sky, more than 2000 square-degrees, at once. The 24 identical cameras will make images every 25 seconds, while the two \u2018fast\u2019 cameras will make them every 2.5 seconds.<\/p>\n
Each camera is equipped with four CCD light-sensors for a total of 81.4-megapixel images per camera, resulting in two-billion-pixel images for the overall spacecraft. These will be the largest images ever for a space mission.<\/p>\n
[Image description<\/i>: In the photo three people in white overalls and caps stand in front of the instrumentation in a white hall. The equipment, about twice as tall as the people in the picture, consists of a black four-stepped-platform that supports 24 cameras. These resemble cylinders flaring at the top, not unlike big ice-cream cones. Each cylinder is wrapped in black material; the top flare has a metallic finish and a white lid.]<\/p>\n
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