Related papers: Geosynchronous Microlens Parallaxes
Gravitational microlensing is currently the only technique that helps study the Galactic distribution of planets as a function of distance from the Galactic center. The Galactic location of a lens system can be uniquely determined only when…
Microlensing is a powerful and unique technique to probe isolated objects in the Galaxy. To study the characteristics of these interesting objects based on the microlensing method, measurement of the microlens parallax is required to…
Gravitational-wave astronomy allows us to study objects and events invisible to electromagnetic waves. So far, only signals triggered by coalescing binaries have been detected. However, as the interferometers' sensitivities improve over…
Space-based microlens parallax measurements are a powerful tool for understanding planet populations, especially their distribution throughout the Galaxy. However, if space-based observations of the microlensing events must be specifically…
The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) will drift away from the Earth at about 0.1 AU/yr. Microlensing events will therefore have different characteristics as seen from the satellite and the Earth. From the difference, it is possible…
I present a novel method for measuring lens masses for microlensing events. By combining a measured lens flux with the microlens parallax vector pi_E, it is possible to derive the mass of the lens system without knowing the angular size of…
Kepler's quest for other Earths need not end just yet: it remains capable of characterizing cool Earth-mass planets by microlensing, even given its degraded pointing control. If Kepler were pointed at the Galactic bulge, it could conduct a…
We show that a space-based gravitational microlensing survey for terrestrial extra-solar planets is feasible in the near future, and could provide a nearly complete picture of the properties of planetary systems in our Galaxy. We present…
Simultaneous observations from two spatially well-separated telescopes can lead to the measurements of the microlensing parallax parameter, an important quantity toward the determinations of the lens mass. The separation between Earth and…
The gravitational microlensing light curves that reveal the presence of extrasolar planets generally yield the planet-star mass ratio and separation in units of the Einstein ring radius. The microlensing method does not require the…
Microlensing events can be used to directly measure the masses of single field stars to a precision of $\sim$1-10\%. The majority of direct mass measurements for stellar and sub-stellar objects typically only come from observations of…
The search for Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars and the evaluation of their occurrence rate is a major topic of research for the exoplanetary community. Two key characteristics in defining a planet as 'Earth-like' are having a…
In the companion paper we began the task of systematically studying the detection of planets in wide orbits ($a > 1.5 R_E$) via microlensing surveys. In this paper we continue, focusing on repeating events. We find that, if all planetary…
The microlensing parallax campaign with the $Spitzer$ space telescope aims to measure masses and distances of microlensing events seen towards the Galactic bulge, with a focus on planetary microlensing events. The hope is to measure how the…
We present the discovery and mass measurement of the cold, low-mass planet MOA-2009-BLG-266Lb, made with the gravitational microlensing method. This planet has a mass of m_p = 10.4 +- 1.7 Earth masses and orbits a star of mass M_* = 0.56 +-…
We measure the dependence of planet frequency on host star mass, $M_{\rm L}$, and distance from the Galactic center, $R_{\rm L}$, using a sample of planets discovered by gravitational microlensing. We compare the two-dimensional…
The Einstein rings and proper motions of nearby stars tend to be large. Thus, every year some foreground stars within a few hundred parsecs of Earth induce gravitational lensing events in background stars. In some of these cases, the events…
Caustic-crossing binary lenses make up about 5% of all detected microlenses. The relative proper motion of a caustic-crossing binary lens can be measured with observations from a single terrestrial telescope. Thus, uniquely, binary lenses…
We demonstrate that microlensing can be used for detecting planets in binary stellar systems. This is possible because in the geometry of planetary binary systems where the planet orbits one of the binary component and the other binary star…
Observing artificial satellites is a relatively new and unique branch of astronomy that is very interesting and dynamic. One specific aspect of observing these objects is that although they appear amongst the celestial background, as…