New Programs to Promote Mass Measurements and Planet Discovery via Gravitational Lensing Events
Abstract
Gravitational lensing events are opportunities to discover dim astronomical masses. Furthermore, whether or not the presence of the lens was known before the event, the lensing light curve provides information about the mass of the lens and about whether the lens has stellar or planetary companions. Until now, however, we have been able to derive detailed information about the lens system in fewer than one percent of the more than 10,000 already-identified candidate lensing events. In this talk we will describe an ongoing program to learn more about past lensing events, and a new program that will enhance the monitoring of future events in order to learn even more about the lenses. The programs to study new events have two components. The first component starts with events discovered by lensing monitoring teams, such as the OGLE and MOA surveys. By identifying catalogued counterparts to the events and implementing model fits that include a variety of physical effects, we can identify possible nearby-lens events that will be productive targets for enhanced monitoring. The second component consists of predicted close passages between a foreground and background star. These provide opportunities to search for evidence of lensing by planets of the foreground star. We describe planned investigations of both types to take place in 2014, and invite community participation.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #223
- Pub Date:
- January 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014AAS...22322806D