The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment(CUTE) SmallSat mission launched in September 2021. The 6U satellite hosts a novel-designed near-ultraviolet (NUV) transmission spectrometer to characterize the composition and mass-loss rates of exoplanet atmospheres. CUTE measures how NUV light from the host star changes as the exoplanet transits in front of the star and passes through the planet’s atmosphere. Transit lightcurves created from CUTE observations will provide constraints on the composition and escape rates of these atmospheres, and may provide the first concrete evidence for magnetic fields on extrasolar planets.

CUTE News

posted: November 9, 2022

CUTE data pipeline paper is published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific!

posted: August 8, 2022

CUTE mission overview and lessons learned presented at the 2022 Small Satellite Conference

posted: September 23, 2021

CUTE featured in CU Boulder Today

Scroll to Top