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03 November 2024
 
  » arxiv » astro-ph/0703125

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Discovery of a Very Bright, Nearby Gravitational Microlensing Event
B. Scott Gaudi ; Joseph Patterson ; David S. Spiegel ; Thomas Krajci ; R. Koff ; G. Pojmanski ; Subo Dong ; Andrew Gould ; Jose L. Prieto ; Cullen H. Blake ; Peter W. A. Roming ; David P. Bennett ; Joshua S. Bloom ; David Boyd ; Pierre de Ponthiere ; N. Mirabal ; Christopher W. Morgan ; Ronald R. Remillard ; T. Vanmunster ; R. Mark Wagner ; Linda C. Watson ;
Date 7 Mar 2007
AbstractWe report the serendipitous detection of a very bright, very nearby microlensing event. In late October 2006, an otherwise unremarkable A0 star at a distance ~1 kpc (GSC 3656-1328) brightened achromatically by a factor of nearly 40 over the span of several days and then decayed in an apparently symmetrical way. We present a light curve of the event based on optical photometry from the Center for Backyard Astrophysics and the All Sky Automatic Survey, as well as near-infrared photometry from the Peters Automated Infrared Imaging Telescope. This light curve is well-fit by a generic microlensing model. We also report optical spectra, and Swift X-ray and UV observations that are consistent with the microlensing interpretation. We discuss and reject alternative explanations for this variability. The lens star is probably a low-mass star or brown dwarf, with a relatively high proper motion of >20 mas/yr, and may be visible using precise optical/infrared imaging taken several years from now. We demonstrate that a modest, all-sky survey telescope could detect ~10 such events per year, which would enable searches for very low-mass planetary companions to relatively nearby stars.
Source arXiv, astro-ph/0703125
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