Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1998-02-11
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Submitted to ApJ, 17 pages, including 2 embedded figures
Scientific paper
10.1086/306240
If the microlensing events now being detected toward the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are due to lenses in the Milky Way halo, then the events should typically have asymmetries of order 1% due to parallax from the reflex motion of the Earth. By contrast, if the lenses are in the LMC, the parallax effects should be negligible. A ground-based search for such parallax asymmetries would therefore clarify the location of the lenses. A modest effort (2 hours per night on a 1 m telescope) could measure 15 parallax asymmetries over 5 years and so marginally discriminate between the halo and the LMC as the source of the lenses. A dedicated 1 m telescope would approximately double the number of measurements and would therefore clearly distinguish between the alternatives. However, compared to satellite parallaxes, the information extracted from ground-based parallaxes is substantially less useful for understanding the nature of the halo lenses (if that is what they are). The backgrounds of asymmetries due to binary-source and binary-lens events are estimated to be approximately 7% and 12% respectively. These complicate the interpretation of detected parallax asymmetries, but not critically.
No associations
LandOfFree
Microlens Parallax Asymmetries Toward the LMC 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 Microlens Parallax Asymmetries Toward the LMC, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Microlens Parallax Asymmetries Toward the LMC will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-521707