First detection of a gravitational microlensing candidate towards the Small Magellanic Cloud
Astrophysics
2009-10-30 v2
Abstract
We report the first discovery of a gravitational microlensing candidate towards a new population of source stars, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The candidate event's light curve shows no variation for 3 years before an upward excursion lasting days that peaks around January 11, 1997 at a magnification of . Microlensing events towards the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Galactic bulge have allowed important conclusions to be reached on the stellar and dark matter content of the Milky Way. The SMC gives a new line-of-sight through the Milky Way, and is expected to prove useful in determining the flattening of the Galactic halo.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9708190,
title = {First detection of a gravitational microlensing candidate towards the Small Magellanic Cloud},
author = {The MACHO Collaboration and C. Alcock and R. A. Allsman and D. Alves and T. S. Axelrod and A. C. Becker and D. P. Bennett and K. H. Cook and K. C. Freeman and K. Griest and M. J. Keane and M. J. Lehner and S. L. Marshall and D. Minniti and B. A. Peterson and M. R. Pratt and P. J. Quinn and A. W. Rodgers and C. W. Stubbs and W. Sutherland and A. B. Tomaney and T. Vandehei and D. L. Welch},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9708190},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, Latex, 2 postscript figures, Published in: ApJ Lett. 491, L11, 1997