Milestone for SAINT-EX project
SAINT-EX is a 1 meter robotic telescope under construction at the National Astronomical Observatory of Mexico in San Pedro Martir. It is designed to look for earth-sized, potentially habitable planets orbiting ultra-cool stars. The telescope being built by the ASTELCO company is funded by the Center for Space and Habitability CSH at the University of Bern, the NCCR PlanetS, the University of Geneva, and the University of Cambridge, UK. It will be run by the SAINT-EX Consortium and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Project leader is Brice Demory, Professor at the University of Bern. “Today, the SAINT-EX project has passed a major milestone with the installation of the dome”, says Demory: “In the coming weeks we will conduct the facility’s commissioning.” SAINT-EX means «Search and chAracterisatIoN of Transiting EXoplanets» and is named after the author of the Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Time-lapse video by Dr. Yilen Gomez Maqueo Chew
More information on the SAINT-EX website: www.saintex.unibe.ch
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