The Microlensing Planet
Search (MPS) Collaboration aims to
detect planets that orbit distant stars by detecting the influence of the
planets on gravitational microlensing event light curves. Gravitational
microlensing events are observed via the time-varying magnification of
the sum of all the gravitationally lensed images as the lens system passes
in front of a background source star.
Observations and light curve modeling of gravitational microlensing
event MACHO-97-BLG-41 indicate that the lens system consists of a Jovian
planet orbiting a binary star system.
If our interpretation of this light curve is correct, it represents
the first discovery of a planet orbiting a binary star system and the first
detection of a Jovian planet via the gravitational microlensing technique.
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The best fit light curve of
the MACHO-97-BLG-41 microlensing event.
The data consists of 356 MPS R-band observations from the Mt. Stromlo 1.9m telescope, 197 MACHO-R and 194 MACHO-V band observations from the Mt. Stromlo 1.3m telescope, 35 R-band observations from the CTIO 0.9m telescope, and 17 R-band observations from the Wise 1.0m telescope. The MACHO-R, MACHO-V, Wise-R, CTIO-R, and MPS data are plotted in red, blue, green, cyan, and magenta respectively. The tick interval for the inset figures is 1 day. |
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Simulates a 3D view of the triple system, illustrates the
microlensing concept, and shows the lensing event as it would have appeared
at micro-arcsecond resolution -- and in reality.
microlensweb.avi 2 MB |
Low resolution , small frame |
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microlensweb.avi 0.5 MB |
Low resolution , small frame, 1st half: binary stars & planet |
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microlensweb.avi 0.5 MB |
Low resolution , small frame, 2nd half: lens animation |
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microlens.avi.gz 17 MB gzipped (98 MB uncompressed) |
Full resolution,large frame |
| README | Explanation of the video |
Credits for Animations:
| Created by | Orit Bergman and Guy Friedman | |
| Zapa Digital Arts, Tel-Aviv, Israel | ||
| Directed by | Dr. Dan Maoz, | |
| Wise Observatory , Tel-Aviv University, Israel | ||
| Based on | calculations by Dr. David Bennett and Dr. Sun Hong Rhie | |
| Department of Physics,University of Notre Dame |
| MPS | MicroFUN | MACHO | WISE |
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