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massive compact halo objects have been detected by microlensing
an invisible compact object passing in front of a distant source causes a temporary spike in the light curve by gravitational lensing---the brightening might last a couple of days
this was written about in the late 1990s when they wanted an upper bound on the contribution of MACHO to dark matter and a bunch of invisible massive objects were observed
but wait! the story isn't over apparently. I recently came across a page of some people who think they can detect earth-size and larger-size planets by a "double spike" microlensing effect.
the star causes a large broad blip in the lightcurve and the planet causes a smaller sharp blip superimposed on it.
I cannot vouch for this. It may not be a reliable webpage. It has a lot of links to established microlensing searches and established planet searches, so it might be a useful page as well as being a curiosity. The page is called "Microlensing Planet Search". Tell me if you think it has any interest or is just weird
http://bustard.phys.nd.edu/MPS/
an invisible compact object passing in front of a distant source causes a temporary spike in the light curve by gravitational lensing---the brightening might last a couple of days
this was written about in the late 1990s when they wanted an upper bound on the contribution of MACHO to dark matter and a bunch of invisible massive objects were observed
but wait! the story isn't over apparently. I recently came across a page of some people who think they can detect earth-size and larger-size planets by a "double spike" microlensing effect.
the star causes a large broad blip in the lightcurve and the planet causes a smaller sharp blip superimposed on it.
I cannot vouch for this. It may not be a reliable webpage. It has a lot of links to established microlensing searches and established planet searches, so it might be a useful page as well as being a curiosity. The page is called "Microlensing Planet Search". Tell me if you think it has any interest or is just weird
http://bustard.phys.nd.edu/MPS/
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