Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope (BEST) and BEST II

BEST BEST (Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope) is a ground-based photometric observation system to detect transit events of Jupiter-sized planets. Since the fall of 2004 BEST is located at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP), France and performs variability characterization of the target fields of the COROT space mission. In parallel a transit search program is executed.

BEST II BEST II is a small automatic telescope with 25 cm aperture and it is dedicated to photometric measurements from the southern hemisphere of stellar intensity variations. The prime use of the system is robotic observational ground-based support of the COROT space mission (CNES) prior to and during mission operation. BEST II is operated at the Observatorio Cerro Armazones (OCA) by DLR – Institute of Planetary Research with support from the Instituto de Astronomia de la Universidád Católica del Norte (UCN) in Antofagasta, and the Astronomical Institute, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (AIRUB). The observatory is located at an altitude of 2817m in the immediate vicinity of Cerro Armazones, which has recently been selected by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) for construction of the next-generation telescope E-ELT (European Extra Large Telescope).  OCA: http://www.astro.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/astro/oca/