Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1998-11-17
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
39 pages, 22 figures. To appear in "Planets outside the Solar System: theory and observations," Eds. J.-M. Mariotti & D. Alloi
Scientific paper
The fields of occultation and microlensing are linked historically. Early this century, occultation of the Sun by the Moon allowed the apparent positions of background stars projected near the limb of the Sun to be measured and compared with their positions six months later when the Sun no longer influenced the light path to Earth. The measured shift in the stellar positions was consistent with lensing by the gravitational field of the Sun during the occultation, as predicted by the theory of general relativity. This series of lectures explores the principles, possibilities and challenges associated with using occultation and microlensing to discover and characterize unseen planets orbiting distant stars. The two techniques are complementary in terms of the information that they provide about planetary systems and the range of system parameters to which they are most sensitive. Although the challenges are large, both microlensing and occultation may provide avenues for the discovery of extra-solar planets as small as Earth.
No associations
LandOfFree
Searching for Unseen Planets via Occultation and Microlensing does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Searching for Unseen Planets via Occultation and Microlensing, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Searching for Unseen Planets via Occultation and Microlensing will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-186958