The BRIght Target Explorer (BRITE) Constellation is the first nanosatellite mission applied to astrophysical research. Five satellites in low-Earth orbits perform precise optical two-colour photometry of the brightest stars in the night sky. BRITE is naturally well suited for variability studies of hot stars. This contribution describes the basic outline of the mission and some initial problems that needed to be overcome. Some information on BRITE data products, how to access them, and how to join their scientific exploration is provided. Finally, a brief summary of the first scientific results obtained by BRITE is given.
@article{arxiv.1611.02161,
title = {The BRITE-Constellation Nanosatellite Space Mission And Its First Scientific Results},
author = {G. Handler and A. Pigulski and W. W. Weiss and A. F. J. Moffat and R. Kuschnig and G. A. Wade and P. Orleanski and S. M. Rucinski and O. Koudelka and R. Smolec and K. Zwintz and J. M. Matthews and A. Popowicz and D. Baade and C. Neiner and A. A. Pamyatnykh and J. Rowe and A. Schwarzenberg-Czerny},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1611.02161},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
5 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of "Seismology of the Sun and the Distant Stars 2016. Using Today's Successes to Prepare the Future. Joint TASC2/KASC9 Workshop - SPACEINN/HELAS8 Conference", ed. M. J. P. F. G. Monteiro